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Fair enough!

89er wrote:

Veritas476 wrote:Was it delivery or was it DiGiorno?

Handmade with fresh toppings and ingredients.

Under the cover of pizza delivery to several tyrants, all of whom died horribly and their assets liquidated to pay for construction.

But it is dang good pizza.

Two fictional pizza companies of note(from literature):
Cosa Nostra Pizza(Neal Stephenson's -Snow Crash-)---The fastest, most high-tech pizza chain I've ever read...their drivers carry railgun pistols, and they take on-time delivery VERY seriously(negligent drivers are never heard from again)

Pesky Pizza(Jack McKinney's -Black Hole Travel Agency-)---Front company for various disenfranchised ethnicities on an Earth being quietly invaded by aliens. At one point in the story, various ingredients from PP's make-it-yourself-pizza kits are used to make explosives to sabotage the aliens.

Paladin Steel "Schweitzer" Medical Full Conversions Cyborg
(aka ‘Robodoc’, ‘Cyberscalpel’, ‘Chromedic’)

"Is there a doctor in the house?"

"The Black Ripper, we called it. Horrible stuff...turned the water
black as sin, gummed up the beaches like oil, and spread like
wild.....worked fast and killed people painfully and gruesomely....ate away
the stomach and intestinal linings, giving victims the bloody
runs...nothing touched the stuff neither, and a lot of the outsiders who
saw and heard what was going on over radio and video wanted to ask the
Coaltion to come down and nuke the entire area before the stuff spread.
But a coupla full-conversion Schweitzers wanted to go in first and
see what they could do...they went in with several tons of equipment and
several very brave(and non-organic) d-bee assistants they recruited from
Lazlo, and just before deadline to burn a new coastline, they discovered
that ultraviolet light and dragons' blood killed the stuff like sulphuric
acid on dandelions....a half-dozen anemic dragons and lots of black
lightbulbs and actinic flares later, and the Black Ripper was RIPPED...
My hat's off to those fellas....if they'd been regular 'borgs,
they'd not been able to do anything but watch all them people, and maybe
alot more, die, but they had the equipment and the staying power, and the
skill to work around the clock and save the world...."
-Gambi Joe-Jones, Rogue Scholar. "Haunted Waters: An
Account of My Travels along the Gulf Coast"

Not everyone needs or wants bionics for heavy lifting or heavy labor. Most everyone agrees that with the transformations wrought of Earth by the Rifts, and the current state of hostilities between high-tech factions and supernatural creatures, the role of Good Samaritan has become exceptionally dangerous to those willing to commit themselves to the healing arts, and to put them to work in the real world. In an age where it’s all too easy to become a victim of "collateral damage", or to be inadvertently maimed by a delirious accident victim with supernatural abilities or augmented strength, where diseases are not only rampant, but rapidly mutating, and, in some cases, intelligent, the loss of every person who has taken the Oath of Hippocrates(or whatever other equivalent) makes the world a much poorer place. It’s all too easy to kill, and to die...but to live, and heal, ...that's another matter.
It’s a challenge PS has long been aware of, and has taken up. With many of its workforce consisting of cyborgs and augments, PS long needed quality health care to keep its people healthy, and considered itself fortunate to have preserved so much health care technology around its New Seattle and Vermont home offices. To retain and maintain that good firtune in the face of so many threats, and to extend the benefits of civilization and advanced medicine, PS engineers turned to adapting bionics to the cause of healing.
The Schweitzer FC is an effort to give medical personnel the same advantages in fighting death and disease, as afforded combat cyborgs in fighting robots and monsters. The Schweitzer is a light cyborg frame, never intended for combat, but clad in substantial megadamage armor protection, and crammed with all manner of diagnostic, life support, and surgical equipment, for dealing with all manner of medical contingencies, from delivering babies and replacing cyberoptics, to field surgery and epidemic control. The Schweitzer has a light, slender appearance for a 'borg, with a streamlined look, without the hard edges and metal crags of combat 'borgs, and plastic/fabric sealed joints and appendages, the better to lock out contaminants and facilitate cleanup in hygienic conditions. The 'borg also has a markedly 'bosomy' look to its upper body, due to all the additional systemry and artificial organs built into it.
The Schweitzer is equally at home in the field, crawling through war debris and disaster ruins in search of people to save, as it is managing an ER, or working in a hospital medical laboratory. Though not designed for combat, its armor is tough enough to turn aside most environmental hazards and stray gunfire, and its fast and strong enough to push aside debris and restrain hysterical patients, before they can do further injury to themselves.
Most Schweitzer conversions are of valiant Body-Fixers and Cyber-Docs who were badly maimed in the line of work, but who elected to undergo full-conversion in order to continue their work. However, PS has begun training a new class of 'cyber-parameds' as medical assistants and combat medics, to meet the need for trained medical personnel in the Rifts world.
If there’s a major complaint about the Schweitzer, it’s that the chromed metal, stain-resistant ceramic and antiseptic plastic body and face of the cyborg are hardly conducive to a reassuring ‘bedside manner’, and many patients, either in pain, delirious under drugs, or suffering from trauma(especially if they received their injuries from robots or power armor) have been known to react badly to the up-close ministrations of a Schweitzer. To better place patients at ease, many full-conversion doctors partial disguise their features with clothing(hospital long coats and scrubs) and/or invest in more lifelike facial features and voice box modification to appear more charismatic and calming.
The Schweitzer is another design of Paladin Steel's which has become
available to the general market; though initially its expected to be
available only from areas with both the medical structures and technology
to properly train and equip new conversions, such as Lazlo, Tolkeen,
Greater New England, and Free Canada(Tundra Rangers). Free Quebec is also rumored to be developing their own version, and Triax has recently unveiled their own ,
nearly identical, model, rumored to be called the 'Salk". .

Type: PS-RX-FC-8 Schweitzer
Class: Full conversion Borg - Medical
Crew: One volunteer
M.D.C. By Location:
Hands(2) 25 each
Arms(2) 60 each
Legs(2) 85 each
Feet (& Foot Pads)(2) 25 each .
*Head 80 .
**Main Body 170 .
*Destroying the head of a Cyborg will kill the character!
However, the head is a small and difficult target to hit. The attacker
must make a called shot and even then he is -3 to strike. The hands, and
forearms are also difficult targets to hit and are -4 to strike on a
called shot.
**Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will effectively
destroy the artificial body, but emergency systems will keep the brain and
vital organs alive for 36 hours. Recovery of the severely damaged body
will enable doctors to place the character on life support systems that
will keep him alive until a new bionic body (same style or other) is
available, for full conversion. Failure to find the damaged Borg within 36
hours means the character dies.


Note: Schweitzer cyborgs cannot wear regular cyborg armor types, but CAN
wear modified human-type armors. In practice, most Schweitzer 'borgs wear
only surgical smocks and boots over their cyborg bodies.

Speed:
Running: 30 mph max . However the act of running does
not tire the operator out and the maximum speed can be maintained
indefinitely.
Jumping: The powerful robotic legs are strong and capable
of leaping 10 feet high or 18 ft lengthwise. A running leap adds 50% to
distance/height.
Flying: Not possible without a jet pack
Underwater: The Schweitzer sinks like a stone, but can run
along the bottom at 5 mph and survive depths of 500 ft.

Statistical Data:
Average Height: 6.5 feet ,
Width: 1.5 feet
Length: 1.1 feet ,
Weight: 290 lbs.
Power System: Nuclear Fusion
Physical Attributes: Equal to PS. 21, PP. 24,.
Bonuses: Standard cyborg bonuses of +3 save vs magic, impervious to
bio-manipulation
+2 initiative
+3 strike/parry
+5 dodge
+2 Pull Punch
+2 to roll with impact
+1 save vs horror factor(what good is a surgeon who faints at the
sight of blood?)
Penalties: Touch/tactile sense(hands only) is 90% of human norm.
Rest of the body is only 70% of normal.
Prowl penalty: -10%

Special Skills/Training---Schweitzers are unusual in that they tend to have
far more academic and specialist skills than the average 'borg, given that
they are medical professionals. As a result, special consideration must be
paid to the skills and training of Schweitzer FCs.
Most Schweitzer FCs(60%) are/were Body Fixers and Cyber-Docs who
underwent bionic conversion as a result of mortal injury. These characters
are typically of levels 1-8 in experience, and have their complete skills
from their pre-Cyborg OCC, but have the skill proficiencies frozen, until
such a time as they become entirely comfortable with their new bodies.
New (1st level)conversion Schweitzers have the option of becoming
Cyberparameds/medtechs...trained from the outset to use their new bodies in
the pursuit of medicine and science. see below for this new OCC-class.
Black Market Cost: 7 million credits with all standard features, weapons,
and sensors.

Standard Bionic Features
Note: These features are all found in the bionic and
cybernetic section of the Rifts RPG.
1. Bionic lung with gas filter & storage cell
2. Built-in language translator
3. Built-in radio receiver & transmitter
4. Clock calendar
5. Gyrocompass
6. Modulated voice synthesizer
7. Multi-optic eyes
8. Built-in loudspeaker
9. Universal headjack with amplified hearing and
sound filtration systems.

Special Features:
a) Fatigue Booster Wiring---Fatigue Boosting allows the 'borg to remain
alert and active without need of sleep for extended periods of time. The
Schweitzer can go without sleep for up to three days(72 hours) at a time,
but will need to sleep twice as long as normal(16 hours)afterwards.

b)Medical Optics---Magnification(7 ft range, 400x mag), Thermo-Imaging,
IR/UV Optics.

c)Medical Sensor Hands(as described in Rifts: Triax, pg. 153) By simply
touching a patient, the Schweitzer can glean much information about the
health and condition of the person.
w/Heat Sensor
Epidermic Analyzer
Pulse and Pressure Detector
Stethoscopical Feature
Radiation Sensor
Micro-Metal Detector(5 ft range)---Great for locating shrapnel and
bullets lodged in wounds.
Ultra-Sound Scanner( Contact, 5 ft range)---perfect for detecting
shrapnel, internal obstructions, checking on fetuses, and, incidentally
detecting flaws and hidden passages in walls and piping.

d)Med-Comp---A modified military 'Expert System' , this microcomputer has
been designed to hold an internal library of medical information, that can
be called up at will, and displayed either on an internal video inset, or
via audio. The Med-Comp can provide known information on species
psychology, drug interactions, known disease organisms, recommended
courses of treatment, and even be upgraded to provide more up-to-date
information(its common practice for Schweitzers to exchange copies of their
medical files, and share new information). The Med-Comp also holds and
organizes all the physician's notes and medical files, allowing them to
track a patient's condition. +10% to medical skill rolls for diagnostic
purposes.

e)Cyber-Diagnostic Scanner---This system plugs into and scans a patient's
cybernetics and bionics for problems. For MA/PS/T-Tech cyborgs and
cybernetics/bionics, this can be done with 90% accuracy; all other makes
and models with 60% accuracy.

f) Circuit Reader---Built into one of the forearms is an advanced Schematic
Sensor that allows the 'borg to "read" a cyborged patient's electronics
systems, even if they don't have plug-in diagnostic access. Can effectively diagnose common Black Market and PS/GNE cyberware at 95%, while more recent Triax and Republic of Japan designs can only be effectively diagnosed at 75%. Experimental human-based designs can be disgnosed at 50-65%, while truly alien systems implanted in humans and common D-bee races are only able to be identified and diagnosed with 30% effectiveness(largely working from comparison to more conventional/better-documented systems).

g)Internal IV Reservoirs---Located in the shoulders and chest are special
fluid containers for holding blood plasma and other fluids in stable,
sanitary containment until needed. The Schweitzer has four such reservoirs,
each holding a liter of fluid(4 liter totals).
This part of the 'borg is actually the most troublesome, not for
its operation, but for the decisions it forces on the physician. As not
all patient-types and races have the same blood chemistry, the Schweitzer
must decide ahead of time what sorts of fluid types he or she will be
carrying in ready-state. PS scientists are working on trying to develop
a 'universal plasma' that can be used by (most) warm-blooded races (and
some of the cold-blooded ones).
(Optional)*TW Plasma Assimilator---Adapted from the KT/PS- IMP-1TW Medical Jump Pack. Another TW device that resembles a large glass/crystal bottle with heavy clamped lid, that uses adapted Blood and Ocean Magic spells to create onsite vital fluids. This reactor vessel can create a basic or saline/nutrient solution, enough to sustain a patient for 24 hours, out of thin air, or it can be used to change the blood of one species into a form compatible to another, by introducing several drops of the desired blood into a larger quantity of blood or plasma, while casting the spell. The spell alters the blood into a compatible blood substitute for transfusions.
This system has proven indispensable to interspecies medicine, but in the case of the Schweitzer, requires either an implanted PPE generator/battery, or an external source of PPE to work.
PPE Per Use:(Create Saline/Nutrient Fluid): 5 PPE per gallon
(Modify Plasma) 20 PPE per gallon


h)TW 'Borg Interface---This special linkage system allows the cyborg to
make use of TW devices. Particularly, in the case of the Schweitzer,
medical devices. Note that the 'borg can only use already charged TW
devices, and cannot call upon its own (virtually nonexistent) PPE reserves
to recharge/power them.

i)Floodlights---The Schweitzer mounts a large, powerful illumination
source on a jointed robotic arm, normally stowed folded across the
shoulders. This armature can also be used as an IV stand.

j) Leg Compartments---The Schweitzer has two large compartments in its
legs, next to the fluid reservoirs, for storing additional medical supplies
or personal possessions.

k) Closed Cycle Life Support---The Schweitzer, if need be, can engage a
special recycling and breather system that allows it to go without breathing
in outside air for up to 48 hours, and go without food or water for up to
two weeks. These systems were originally developed for deep space work.

l)Molecular Analyzer/Chem-Scanner-----Essentially an automated and highly-compact biochemical lab capable of performing blood typing, simple pregnancy and tissue-typing, and quick sampling of blood and tissue for common compatibility and rejection factors(especially important when working with multiple species services and communities). This allows the medic a better chance of administering the proper drugs and blood substitute solutions.

Weapons Systems: None standard, but the Schweitzer has a number of
tools that can, in a desperate situation, be considered weapons.
1) Drug Injector Hands---One finger of each hand has a powerful needle or
hypo-injector, for administering drugs. The needle can be replaced between uses, or can be laser-sterilized by a modification of the finger laser-scalpels.
Range: Melee
Damage: 1 SDC plus chemical/drug effects
Payload: 5 doses of up to 4 different chemicals, 20 doses total.

2) Chemical Sprayer System---The Schweitzer is fitted with a chemical
sprayer system. Though this is intended to be used to spray antiseptics
and fire-suppressant chemicals around the 'borg, it can also be used to
deliver incapacitating agents like tear gas, or sedative spray.
Range: 10 ft radius
Damage: By dispersed agent
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 20 individual doses (as many as five different chemicals
can be carried)

3) Cardiac Resuscitation Shock Contacts---Special panels in the palms of
the 'borg's hands can be used to deliver a short, powerful shock...at lower
power levels this can be used to shock a failing heart back into action,
but at higher levels can be used used to stun.
Range: Melee-contact
Damage: 1d4 SDC at high level, plus stunned for 1d6 melees; -10 to
strike, parry, and dodge, and -50% to all skill rolls.
1d6 SDC at extreme level, stun automatic, plus 20% chance
of stopping the victim's heart(target gets a save vs death/coma)
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee

4) Hand Scalpels and Laser Cutters---The hands/forearms are fitted with a
variety of precision cutting instruments for surgery or cutting through
entangling debris. Since the Schweitzer may be expected to cut patients out
of MDC armor(or, god forbid, cut the armor OUT of the patient), or operate
on beings with natural MDC protection, some of the cutting tools inflict
megadamage.
Range: Melee -6 ft
Damage: (Scalpel Fingers) 1d4 SDC
(Laser Finger) 1d6 , 3d6 SDC, or 1d6 MD, or 2d6 MD.
(Laser Cutter Wand) 1d4, 1d6, 2d6, or 3d6 SDC, or 1 MD
(Retractable Drill) 3d6 SDC or 1d4 MD
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively unlimited

Hand to Hand Combat
Restrained Punch 1d6+9 SDC
Full Strength Punch 3d6+9 SDC
Power Punch( 2 attacks)1d4 MD
Kick 3d6+9 SDC
Leap Kick(2 Attacks) 1d6 MD
Judo-Style Throw/Flip 2d6 SDC
Body Block/Ram: (2 attacks)

Options:
The Schweitzer can be fitted with any of the standard cybernetic and bionic features in the Rifts books. Favorite options include fitting the 'borg with extra limbs, micro-manipulator extensions, external holographic projectors(for assisting other doctors in performing medical procedures), illumination lamp shoulder rigs, and plasti-flesh facial features.
In general, Schweitzers avoid combat modifications such as implanted weapons, but if they have to accept weapons, favor non-/reduced-lethality weaponry such as stunners and tranquilizer guns.

*Auxiliary Life Support System---Cyborg Field Life
Pack(CFLP)---Essentially a built-in heart, lung, and kidney dialysis
machine, for keeping patients alive until they can be moved to better
facilities. The CFLP contains an artificial lung/respirator, suction
pump, 2 IRMSS-type kits, artificial kidney/dialysis filter, rotary heart
pump(as opposed to the old clunky Jarvik-style heart), bio-monitors, and up
to 2 gallons of blood substitute (in addition to the cyborg's own internal
reserves). The CFLP tends to give the cyborg a potbellied or 'pregnant'
look. The CFLP can keep a patient alive on life support for up to 36
hours before the blood scrubbers and other bio-packs need to be
recharged/replaced.
Weight: Adds 60 lbs to overall weight.
Cost: 50,000 credits

*Cryo-Pump---A combination cyrogen supply tank and coolant system for freezing specimens, and quick-freezing bodies and loose organs for later reattachment or study. Hooks up to a carry-sack and alerts the operator if stasis is broken or the temperature exceeds safe storage limits. The tank holds up to a gallon of recyclable cryogen fluid.
Cost: 30,000 credits

*Life-Bubble Kit---The "Life Bubble" was developed from the same automatic
deployment technology as the paratrooper parasail and PS combat shelters, but instead of unfolding/stowing a parachute or airfoil, the LBK enfolds the cyborg and a
patient in an air-sealed plastic bubble(1 MDC). The LBK is particularly
useful for surgery and treatment in the field, where conditions are less
than septic, or there is the presence of chemical/biological agents. The
LBK only has 6 hours of air/life-support, but this can be extended with
additional air tanks hooked in.
Weight: Adds 25 lbs to overall weight.
Cost: 50,000 credits



Schweitzer Cyborg Cybermedtech OCC
“Refugee camps in a war zone are a special hell; they’re full of unhappy, frightened people who don’t know what from the other, crammed together with too little food, water, shelter, sanitation, or order. Perfect breeding ground for a thousand diseases we don’t see in civilization. What little health care they have is hamstrung by too little medicine, too few qualified caregivers, and too many patients, many with conditions that require long term care or special facilities. It gets even worse when the combat zone is close by and they’re bringing in casualties that are still bleeding from all manner of wounds. And if the local combatants drop by to commandeer your medical supplies, or the refugees start turning on each other, and you get caught in the middle? The best of intentions makes for poor armor indeed. That’s how I lost six of my friends and my old body; bunch of unhappy ex-Tolkeenites believed a rumor we were selling the antibiotics to the wealthier refugees. Barely got pulled out of there alive by the SkyKnights.
Now I hear there’s an ugly war brewing again in Europe, and there’s refugees flooding across the borders into Alliance-friendly Dantegardan and Roman territory. More refugees than from Tolkeen even. The Alliance is sending humanitarian aide and I’ve signed up to go. Why, when it almost killed me last time? Simple. Because people are hurting, and I have to help them! BECAUSE they’re afraid and desperate, I gotta go. Somebody has to care, somebody has to be the rock of reassurance to them, the reminder that they’re not alone. And with this new body of mine, I can be all that, without worrying about falling ill or falling on a scalpel in somebody else’s hand. I’ll be strong for them.”
----Tanno Relansa, GNE Red Cross Cybermedtech

The "Cybermedtech' is a specially-trained practitioner of medicine, equipped with a Schweitzer FC body and all its features. The proper Cybermedtech undergoes a minimum of one year of rigorous training (beyond cyber-rehab) and practice in the use of their new bodies and the basics of emergency medicine, before starting out in the field, attached to an EMT unit or other medical team. The training is more extensive than that normally given to 'borgs, with an emphasis on healing, rather than combat. The
Cybermedtech is more than a jumped-up paramedic or EMT, but is not as experienced or skilled as a full-degreed Body-Fixer or Cyber-Doc. This character knows a little more than the average Body Fixer about cybernetic and bionic medicine, and has greater training in fields like epidemiology and microbiology than the average Cyber Doc. Cybermedtechs also have some working knowledge of mechanical and electrical engineering, particularly
when it comes to rigging field hospital systems. With time and experience, a Cybermedtech can become a full-fledged Body Fixer, Cyber-Doc, or scientist in their own right, if they decide to specialize in any particular field.
Cybermedtechs tend to rely more on their bionics than anything else, though, and it is this dependance on technology that may cause them problems, as they tend to overlook the benefits of Holistic Medicine, and other 'natural' proccedures. However, the use of TW 'Borg interfaces and TW Med Kit technology is helping to remedy this problem by providing the cyborg with more options.
Cybermedtech training is available at any of the North American Alliance nations, and branch schools/programs are appearing in Lazlo, New Lazlo, Los Alamos, and other high-tech kingdoms with more than a passing concern for public health.
OCC Skills
Paramedic(+20%)
Field Surgery(+20%)
Biology(+25%)
Read Sensory Instruments(+15%)
Math: Basic & Advanced(+15%)
Computer Operation(+5%)
Literacy(+30%)
Language:(One additional of choice +20%)
Pilot Automobile(+5%)
W.P. Knife
OCC Related Skills: Select 8 "Other" skills, plus select two additional
skills at level six, one at level 9, and one at level twelve.
Communications: Radio: Basic only(+10%)
Domestic: Any
Electrical: Any(+5%)
Espionage: None
Mechanical:Any(+6%)
Medical: Any(+15%)
Military: Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Warfare only(Counts as two
selections)
Physical: Any , except Acrobatics and Boxing
Pilot:Any(+5%)
Pilot Related: Any
Rogue: Streetwise and Palming only
Science: Any
Technical: Any
W.P.: Any
Wilderness: Identify Plants and Fruits only
Secondary Skills: Can select six secondary skills from the list above,
excluding those marked "None", without any bonuses.

Experience Table: Use Cyborg Experience Table

Equipment/Possessions: A Cybermedtech starts out with a standard kit of
two surgical gowns, disposable boots, disposable gloves, surgical
kit(scalpels, clamps, sutures, needles), medical kit(first aid kit,
bandages, antiseptics, protein healing salve, aspirin, painkillers,
antibiotics, hypodermic gun, flashlight), IRMSS and RMK kits, hand-held
computer, inflatable splints/casts, folding stretcher, six unbreakable
vials, thermometers, reloads for the antiseptic and drug systems, and a
portable laboratory. Also has a plastic bag dispenser(with about a dozen reusable sealable plastic bags) and 1-4 larger carry bags/body bags.
May also have rappeling gear(grapples, winches, 200 ft of rope) and 1-4 stasis bags, as well as other equipment, depending on circumstances, and assignment.
May also have two weapons of choice with 1d4 clips. Vehicle is
typically a truck, hovercar, or unarmed APC; no military vehicles(i.e., obvious tank or weapons carrier) or robots. EMT teams will have specially fitted vehicles(VFS/PS/GNE teams are fond of the Milksnake PS-MEDEVAC-03/07 and AVA/VW Camper Van) with onboard life support, fire extinguishers, and extraction tools.
Cybermedtechs in the service of Greater New England and its
affiliates will also have accss to Triax-style IRVT-, RAU-, RSU-, and
IROU-kits, TW medkits and Spell-Hypos, as well as medical supplies
applicable to llocal and more common non-human races.

Money: Typically has 2d4x1000 credits in savings and 2d4x1000 credits in
barterable items/medical equipment. Cybermedtechs working for GNE will earn
, on average, 400 credits a week for interns(levels 1-4), 600-800
credits/week for more experienced medical personnel(EMTs, combat medics,
rapid-response SAR staff), and 900-1500 credits/week for 'borgs who elect
to specialize in a particular field(nuclear medicine, research, germ
warfare/epidemiology(prevention of), xenobiology, etc.).

taalismn glad you are back and I am humble by your work here
well done man!!

Paladin Steel Uris-Class ACV Heavy Freighter
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/img251.jpg (the vessel in the foreground)

“Damn! Picked up a pair of Horune pirates back there! We might have been able to outrun Splugorth, but not those bastards! They can outpace our lady here, and we can’t oufight them, but if we make a run for the coast, we might just be able to get across the barrier reefs and islands and lose them there!”

The Uris-class freighter is a large surface-effect cargo carrier used for nautical transport and commerce. Based on pre-Rifts designs, the Uris has been improved for the post-Rifts world through the application of more durable megadamage materials and efficient powerplants. The Uris has a long, streamlined, aircraft-style main body, with the bulk of the ship’s systems, including the bridge, crew quarters, and powerplants, mounted in the forward section of the hull. Multiple blowers and fans are mounted along the length of the ship, and a set of large jets are placed at the tail. The ship skims along the surface of the water at high speed on a thin cushion of air pumped under the hull. The ship also has superior shallow-draft characteristics, can cross sand bars, ice packs, and other obstructions with ease, and even has some limited land capability(provided the surface is flat and firm), allowing the freighter to belly up onto beaches when deep water docks are unavailable. While relatively well armored for commercial vessels of their size, Uris-class carriers rely mainly on their speed for survival, and typically carry only light point defense armaments, mounted in retractable turrets. Efforts to outfit the Urises as dedicated warships, or as missile platforms, have proven fairly unsatisfactory and the GNEN deploys Urises only in a support capacity in its own ranks.
Uris-class freighters doing the ocean runs of Rifts Earth are rarely ever configured to carry passengers owing to the risk from aquatic monsters. Instead, these dedicated cargo carriers are heavily automated with largely robot crews. The ships also carry, in addition to their armored lifeboats, special bridge fittings that allow the bridge to detach and serve as an armored lifeboat, with one or two high speed VTOL aircraft ‘lifeboats’(typically modified Skimmers) ready to launch and whisk the crew to safety in event of a total abandon-ship emergency.
Type: PS-ACVH-12 Uris
Class: Heavy Air Cushion Vehicle Freighter
Crew: 24
If outfitted as a passenger carrier, could carry up to 500 passengers
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 4,000
Bridge 500
*Rear Fan Engines(2) 450 each
Gun Mount Positions(up to six) 200 each
*Destroying one of the engines will reduce speed by 50% and impose a -20% to piloting rolls. Destroying BOTH engines will force the ship to assume a hull down position in the water and putter along at a slow 10 MPH using auxiliary propulsion.
Height: 40 ft
Width: 80 ft
Length: 480 ft
Weight: 4,000 tons
Cargo: 2,000 tons
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 20 year energy life
Speed:(Land) Limited; on level and clear land, the freighter can skim at about 35 MPH, 2-4 ft off the ground.
(Water) 75 MPH
Market Cost: 40 million credits
Systems of Note:
*Long Range Radar---200 miles
*Long Range Radio--- 600 mile range
*Sonar-------80 miles. When traveling at 30+ MPH, the sonar is -25% to Read Sensory Instruments skill to read the sonar display), because the skimmer drive and air cushion provide too much interference.
*Limited Life Support---The main crew compartments can be sealed airtight and supplied with air conditioned tanked air for up to 48 hours, or filtered external air for 4 days.
*Detachable Bridge Module---The entire bridge is mounted so as to be able to detach and float free of the rest of the (sinking) ship in an emergency. The bridge has its own floatation units, life support, and its own electric motor(able to push the lifepod at a leisurely 8 MPH...battery range of 200 miles, but has deployable solar cells to recharge the batteries).

Weapons Systems: None standard, but has provision for up to six covered gun/weapons positions similar to those on PS-built Liberty and Victory Ships.

Auxiliary Craft:
*6-10 lifeboats
Provision for 1-2 VTOL aircraft


Paladin Steel Aduvia-class Light ACV Freighter
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/img251.jpg(the vessel in the background)

“In an age when most people rarely go more than a day’s walk from their homes, having movers like the Aduvia really opens up people’s horizons. What would have been an adventure a generation, even a decade, ago can now become the daily jaunt down the river to visit Aunt Maybell, take one’s wares to market in the big port city, or go shopping for something special. We make travel safe and routine...well, at least as safe and routine as it comes on this Rifts Earth.”
---Captain Faye Merrian, Ferry -Whitewater Walker-.

The Aduvia-class hovercraft is a collaboration between Paladin Steel and Farnborough Aviation to produce a high-speed light maritime cargo transport. The Aduvia is based loosely on a pre-Rifts design, the proposed HM-4, a high speed 40-knot ACV that was never built. The ship looks somewhat like an elongated Alpaca-class hovercarrier, but is longer and slimmer, the passengers and cargo carried in two catamaran-style side hulls, linked at three points by passage ways across the centrally-mounted engines and plenum chambers. A forward compartment bridges the front, and also provides access to the bridge tower. Ramp-ways at the front ends and sides provide for the loading and unloading of passengers and cargo.
The PS version is similar, but improved. More compact, efficient, and powerful propulsion systems give the ship higher speed than originally proposed.
Like many freighters and cargo carriers built by Paladin Steel, the Aduvia comes well-armored and with provision to be fitted with weapons systems, though it is NOT a warship, and is best used only in a support transport role.
Numerous Aduvias have been constructed by Paladin Steel at both its East and West Coast dockyards, and the vessel is commercially available. It most often sees service as a high speed river or coastal ferry.

Type: PS/FA-ACVL-08 Aduvia
Class: Light Air Cushion Freighter
Crew: 12-25+350 passengers
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 1,700
Bridge 400
Gun Mount Positions(up to five) 200 each
Height: 30 ft
Width: 68 ft
Length: 160 ft
Weight: 350 tons
Cargo: 350 passengers+ 6 vehicles, or 250 tons of palletized cargo
Powerplant: Liquid Fuel(300 mile range), Electric(360 mile range), or Nuclear( 20 year energy life)
Speed:(Land)Limited; on level and clear land, the freighter can skim at about 25 MPH, 2-4 ft off the ground.
(Water) 55 MPH
Market Cost: 20 million credits for liquid fuel, 22 million credits for electric/fuel cell, and 26 million credits for nuclear
Systems of Note:
*Long Range Radar---200 miles
*Long Range Radio--- 600 mile range
*Sonar-------80 miles. When traveling at 30+ MPH, the sonar is -25% to Read Sensory Instruments skill to read the sonar display), because the skimmer drive and air cushion provide too much interference.
*Limited Life Support---The main crew compartments can be sealed airtight and supplied with air conditioned tanked air for up to 48 hours, or filtered external air for 4 days.

Weapons Systems: None standard, but has provision for up to five covered gun/weapons positions similar to those on PS-built Liberty and Victory Ships.

Auxiliary Craft:
*4-6 lifeboats

nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PSMcM21Mc and McM22Mc MicroLauncher Packs
(aka ‘Mickey-Mins’, ‘Mic-Mic’, ‘Dethnic’)

“They may not get many shots with their little launchers, but then, they only need to kill you once to ruin your day.”

“I really hate travelling through paraire dog territory....the little bastards take every opportunity to pop up and snipe at you with these things, then drop back down into their tunnels...Unless you have ground-penetrating heavy weaponry or take the time to stop and dig them out, you’re wasting your ammo shooting back. Worse, some of the fuzzbutts have taken to reinforcing their burrows with megacrete, or fix claymores to the enterances. And a full salvo from those launchers they’ve been buying can blow off a tire or a tread, and force you to stop for repairs...that’s when you find youself in a crossfire.”---Anonymous Bandit, Pecos Territory

These are backpack style weapons meant to be carried by Smallkin, Size Levels 1-3. In basic configuration, they are arrays of micro-missile lauch tubes or ‘metalstorm’ sequential firing barrels racked on a harness carried over the mini-soldier’s back. When readied for action, the launcher array lifts up on lightweight carbon-fiber armatures up onto the Smallkin’s shoulders and over their heads in a manner similar to the vehicle-mount ‘calliope’ rocket launchers or Triax’s TX-series weapons packs for power armors. The launcher can be aimed with the aide of a recticle that drops down in front of the wearer’s face, and the set of the launchers can be adjusted by pulling on strap rings on the harness.
While suffering the same problems as most microscale weaponry(lack of payload for the most part), the McM21Mc and McM22Mc can do a surprising amount of damage to large targets. Thus the weapons have become very popular with Smallkin forces looking for ‘equalizers’. The Sidhe Liberation Army has also been provided with the weapons for their efforts to strike back against the Faerie Harvest.
Weight: (Both)10 ounces
MDC: The harness and launchers provide an extra 2 MDC of cover
Range:(MicroMissiles)Varies by Micro-Missile Type;
(15mm Format)
Pattern-1A 5,700 ft
Pattern-1B 6,000 ft
Pattern-1C 6,000 ft
Pattern-1D 7,000 ft
Pattern-1E 7,500 ft

(20mm Format) 8,000 ft for all types

(13mm Gyrojet Rounds) 2,000 ft
Damage: (MicroMissiles)Varies by Micro-Missile Type;
(15mm Format)
Pattern-1A---1d4 MD to 2 ft blast radius
Pattern-1B---1d6 MD to 5 ft blast radius
Pattern-1C---4d6 MD to 4 ft blast radius, or 1d4 MD to a 10 ft blast radius in fragmentation mode
Pattern-1D----6d6 MD to a 5 ft blast radius, or 2d6 MDC out to a 18 ft blast radius in fragmentation mode
Pattern-1E---1d4x10 MD to 3 ft blast radius

(20mm Format)
(Pattern-2a) 4d4 MD to 2 ft blast radius
(Pattern-2b)6d6 MD to a 5 ft blast radius, or 2d6 MDC out to a 18 ft blast radius in fragmentation mode
(Pattern-2c)(Incendiary)2d4 MD to 5 ft blast radius, does an additional 1d4 burn damage for 2d4 melees

(13mm Gyrojet Rounds)
(Solid Penetrator)4d4 MD at 200 ft or less, 1d6 MD out to 2,000 ft
(Explosive) 3d6 MD per round.

Rate of Fire:(MicroMissiles) Volleys of 1-4(all)
(13mm Gyrojet Rounds) Volleys of 1-8

Payload:(MicroMissiles) 4
(13mm Gyrojet Rounds) 3 rounds per tube, with 8 tubes, 24 rounds total
Features:
Cost:(MicroMissiles) 12,000 credits
(15mm Format)
Pattern-1A 25 credits per McM
Pattern-1B 32 credits per McM
Pattern-1C 60 credits per McM
Pattern-1D 95 credits per McM
Pattern-1E 220 credits per McM
(20mm Format)
(Pattern-2a) 90 credits each
(Pattern-2b)130 credits each
(Pattern-2c)150 credits each

(13mm Gyrojet Rounds) 10,000 credits for the launcher. 1,000 credits per case of 50 Penetrator rounds, 2,000 credits for explosive.

Very usable.

"what do you mean? You cannot find the shooter!!"
"They must be using them ##@@%#@ Mini tracking bullets from PS. Or they have equipping *&^**% squirrels with something new again."
"DUCK!!!"
"What they are arming ducks now, too?"
"Hit the dirt, NOW!!!"

PSMcM21Mc and McM22Mc MicroLauncher Packs
nice !!!!

As if I don't have enough projects already WIP, I have to see this article: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/aviation/news/the-return-of-the-supersonic-biplane-7505124

Stealth supersonic biplanes?

taalismn wrote:As if I don't have enough projects already WIP, I have to see this article:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/aviation/news/the-return-of-the-supersonic-biplane-7505124

Stealth supersonic biplanes?

Maybe, Maybe not.

Paladin Steel PS-PB-2008ST ‘Albatross’ WIGship
(aka ‘Albert’)
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/LippischWiG.jpg

“It used to be that if you got one or two transoceanic ships, air or sea, in a MONTH, you were doing booming business. What now with the big high speed, high capacity, carriers, route patrols and escorts, and both real-time and psychic intelligence to give warning, we’re doing over a dozen shipments a WEEK. That’s a HUGE increase in business. We got the commerce going at both ends and the port facilities to handle it! And last, but not least, we got a full range of transport to carry it all.”

The PS-PB-2008ST ‘Albatross’ is another in PS’s production line of large capacity air transports, in this case a surface-skimming flying boat ‘ekranoplane’ using Wing In Ground principles for high-speed, high-efficiency flight.
The PS-PB-2008ST ‘Albatross’ is itself a parallel development of the PB-2005ST ‘WayFarer’, using pre-Rifts design studies by the Lippisch aircraft design company as inspiration. In many ways the ‘Albatross’ resembles a wingless version of the Wayfarer, but with only stub outboard winglets, canted up, and a more prominent T-Tail assembly. The main engines, an array of turbofans, are mounted on the back, between the two hulls. The ‘Albert’ is a span-loader, meaning that cargos are loaded crosswise through hatches on either side of the hull, and stowed in a large central cargo hold suspended between the two pontoon fuselages. One fuselage, typically the starboard fuselage, holds the cockpit; the other typically holds an observation station or weapons turret.
The Albatross can fly, but it slows down appreciably at altitude; it’s at its fastest skimming at relatively low altitudes. This exposes the aircraft to surface threats, such as marine predators, but the Albatross is considered both fast and well-armored enough that it avoid most threats and handle moderate amounts of punishment. Defensive weaponry is standard, considered to be point defense only; the Albatross is NOT considered a dedicated combat vehicle.
The Albatross can land on water and marsh, and even skim to a landing on hard ground off a body of water; the aircraft can beach itself to land and take on cargo from undeveloped shores, though it works best with a dedicated port facility and loading docks.
Despite their large size and provisional multiple weapons stations, Albatrosses are NOT ideal warships or dedicated weapons platforms. They have been used on occasion as launch platforms for cruise missiles or RPVs, and even aerial minelayers and troop carriers, but their real purpose is cargo transport. On extended long range flights, it is common to have these ships heavily automated with robot drones taking many of the onboard roles, in order to minimize crew risk and manpower losses if these vessels prove targets away from GNE territory and the range of defensive escorts. Typically, they are deployed in aerial ‘convoys’ of five to ten aircraft escorted by dedicated combat vehicles for protection.
These vessels have become quite common at GNE/Alliance water front ports as the fast freighters of choice, and their regular comings and goings are regarded as a sign of the Alliance network’s bustling economic activity. The GNE Coast Guard maintain a few as patrol aircraft and rescue transports, while the GNEAS maintain several squadrons as marine airlift.

Type: PS-PB-2008ST ‘Albatross’
Class: Long Range Surface Effect Airborne Ship
Crew: 9, plus regular capacity for 50 passengers.
If carrying passengers, they can carry up to 800 passengers(allowing for 150 lbs of luggage per passenger)
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 1,200
Reinforced Crew Compartment/Cockpit 350
Weapons Turrets/Stations(8) 150 each
Tail 360
*Engines(6) 200 each
*The aircraft can fly with as few as three engines still functional
Height: 60 ft
Width: 140 ft
Length: 300 ft
Weight: 360 tons
Cargo: 200 tons
Powerplant: Nuclear with 15 year energy life
Speed: (Water) Taxi or skim at up to 150 MPH
(Flying) 540 MPH at altitudes of 10-100 ft, 400 MPH at altitudes up to 9,000 ft
Can land on water or land.
Market Cost: 45 million credits
Systems of Note:
*Long Range Radio---1,000 miles
*Long Range Radar---200 miles
*Short-Range ‘Look Down’ Radar---Range: 6 miles. This system scans the ocean surface and can look just below the surface for submerged vessels , islands(a good navigational aide) and lurking supernatural beings(like Reachers, about to burst up through the water).
*Inertial and Astronomical Navigation---The Interface and the destruction(?) of the old GPS networks has meant that globehopping is much more difficult...but not impossible. Fortunately, the Interface doesn’t prevent accurate navigation by the stars and other(stable) astronomical objects(unless one happens to be within a leyline storm or area of dimensional instability), and the long-range aircraft have been fitted with automated star-trackers.
*Life Support----Pressurized Cabin and air filtration systems
*Passenger Deck has reclining seats, ten-bed ‘sleeper’ cabin, mini-sickbay(basic and paramedic treatment facilities), three toilets, a kitchen/galley, water filtration/decon system(ultra-violet irradiation and charcoal filtration) and a small condenser/distillation unit(can produce about 50 gallons a day).
*Cargo Deck has built-in powered conveyor belt(s)/roller way in the floor, overhead chain-sling for cargo, and typically will have a light power armor or mini-forklift for cargo-handling. The hatches have extendable and lowerable ramps for embarking cargo at both wharves and unimproved beach landing areas.
*Internal Fire Suppression System
Weapons Systems:
1)Weapons Turrets((6, one above and behind the cockpit/nose, one on the front of the opposite cargo hull, one at the end of each pontoon hull, one ventral gun tub, and a tail gun station at the top of the T-tail). All of these weapons may be of the same type, but a mix of different types is recommended for weapons capability balance.

a) KTRG-40 11mm Dual Barreled Rail Gun System---A proven system, licensed from KeraTech, with moderate damage, but excellent range and reliable operation.
Range: 5,000 ft
Damage: 4d6 MD to a 5 ft blast radius per 30 round burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 6,000 rounds per gun(200 bursts)

b)Paladin Steel Laser Pod-----This is the PS-RFL-25, the so-called “Prosek’s Gift’ thanks to its being derived from a reverse-engineered Coalition weapon!
Range: 6,000 ft
Damage:2d4x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

c)TK Heavy Machine Guns
Range: 4,000 ft(double on ley lines)
Damage: 2d4 MD single shot, 3d6 MD short(5 shot) burst, 5d6 MD long (10 shot) burst, 2d6x10 MD full melee (50 shot) burst. Damage x2 for the synchronized fire from the 3 turret mounts)
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited; powering spells must be re-cast every six months. 200 shot ‘back-up’ PPE clip
Cost: 600,000 credits

d)Quad12.7mm Multi-barrel Rail Guns
Range:4,000 ft
Damage:1d6x10 MD per 40 rd burst
2d6x10 MD for a simultaneous double burst from both guns.
4d6x10 MD for a simultaneous quadruple burst from all four guns.
Rate of Fire: EPCHH. Can only fire bursts.
Payload: 4,000 rds per gun(100 bursts)

e)20 mm Rapid-fire Cannon--- Can be mounted singly or in two-gun mounts.
Range:(20mm) 7,200 ft
Damage:(20mm) 1d4 MD per shell
4d6 MD per 5 rd burst
1d4x10+4 MD per 10 rd burst
Airburst does 1d4 MD to 2 ft blast radius(single shot)
(20mm PSX-1) 4d4 MD single rd
1d6x10 MD per 5 rd burst
Airburst does 4d4 MD to 2 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: Standard
Payload: 1,000 rd drum

2)Short Range Missile Launchers(4)---These are air defense launchers for AAMs. Two are mounted forward, between the twin fuselages of the aircraft. PS ‘Black Talon’ LSAMs are the preferred missile for these launchers, but they will accept any standardized SRM.
Range: Varies by Missile Type
Damage: Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-10
Payload: 30 missiles each launcher(120 total)

3)Chaff/Flare Launchers(4)---Mounted on either side of the tail, and under each wing, are decoy countermeasure launchers.
Flare/Chaff Launcher
Range: Close Defense
Damage: None; similar to Triax-style chaff
01-50 Enemy Missile or volley detonates in chaff and threat is neutralized
51-75 Missile/Volley diverts and may pursue/lock on to other targets
76-00 No Effect! Missile(s) still on target!
Will also temporarily blind and impede flying monsters who fly into it.
Reduce APMs/combat bonuses/ speed by half for 1d4 melees
Payload: 24 per launcher, 48 total

Variants:
*WPB-2008CGC---Coast Guard model, with capacity to carry up to 100 rescue personnel, and carry 4 motorized 25 ft power boats for rapid deployment. Can also carry 300 passengers(more if fewer Coast Guardsmen are carried)

*PB-2008HSM---High speed mine deployer. Can carry up to 400 mines(equivalent to long range missile warheads, only DOUBLE the blast radius) and deploy them off high speed racks in the wing ends or from hatches under the main fuselage.

*PB-2008LR/CMCA---- Missile Carrier, modified with two long range missile launchers, the mechanisms of which are the same model as those fitted with other PS large missile launch platforms such as the Skymaster III.
Weapons Systems:
1) Long Range Missile Launchers(2)
Range: Varies by Missile Type(long range)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type(long range)
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-10 each bay, per melee
Payload: 50 missiles per bay, 100 long range missiles total

"taalismn" Paladin Steel PS-PB-2008ST ‘Albatross’ WIGship
(aka ‘Albert’)
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/LippischWiG.jpg

nice one man!!

I recently made a theory about what if NEXUS got her hands on Rifts tech, or something similar. Is Paladin Steel worried that their designs could be corrupted or taken over by a malevolent AI?

89er wrote:I recently made a theory about what if NEXUS got her hands on Rifts tech, or something similar. Is Paladin Steel worried that their designs could be corrupted or taken over by a malevolent AI?

NEXUS already is the equivalent of ARCHIE-3 if not better in some regards. ANYBODY could fall victim to NEXUS copying, and it's possible that ARCHIE-3 might already be producing knockoffs, when it suits him.
Paladin Steel isn't any more concerned about an AI copying its products than it is any other competitors copying them, because that's part of the game of high-stakes industrial espionage in a relatively lawless megaverse(face it, licensing and copyrights really only have substance in civilizations like the CCW, CS, or other enclaves of polite society, but even there, there are ways around the copyrights....just as the CCW is devoting large amounts of time and money to copying Naruni's designs). PS rreverse-engineers and copies other people's work, and some of that 'research' makes its way into PS mainstream products from time to time, though PS isn't as blatantly knockoff happy as some corporations, but keeping abreast of what the competition is doing and knowing how they do it is definitely part of their overall corporate operations. A malevolent AI would be regarded as another aggressive competitor, or high-profile threat that would warrent corporate gray/black ops to deal with if it got extreme, or possibly a proxy campaign(offering bounties on the knockoffs, cooperating with others burned by the perpetrator in a 'common enemy' campaign, etc...).

In comparison, though, PS is still a small fish in a very large pond, compared to Naruni Enterprises(of which we've only seen a fraction of their might and scope), the Splugorth networks, or even big companies like the Three Galaxies' megacorps. One or two Altess could probably buy up Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries in terms of total wealth. The main objectives of PS however remain securing their future and that of the GNE(and its culture), rather than just overall expansion and control of swathes of the Megaverse.

I recently did duck armor(i.e. up to 1 year ago) look it up & do some variants please.

Optional Material:

This is for all you folks who want a Euerka, Rifts style

Hedoro
PS/GNE-Shemar/SSN Joint Outpost
“Let me assure you all right now, there is an outpost on Hedoro, but it is most certainly not Paladin Steel’s version of Lone Star!”
“All this security you see is only to keep the checkers happy, the real security is unseen. But it is not for keeping things out, it is to keep all the well intentioned abominations inside.”
“Everyone gets a Vat-Pet in your choice of species, a Mark 4 HeLI (Hard Light Interface) with blank slate modifications for personal mods, and a tooth brush with a micro bomb in the brush head.”

Known to only the higher ups of both parties and ruled over by a man trapped between both, Outpost Hedoro is a toxic landfill of a planet in the habitable zone of the system. On the surface, acid rain, caustic winds, and avalanches of waste from hundreds of years ago make this world seem repellent of life. But to the contrary, the wildlife has adapted and makes its home among the molten metal rivers, the mountains of cans, and the forests of debris from a species long since dead. The outpost is however deep below the filth, housing some of the most creative, innovative, and dangerous minds that PS has found and “repurposed.”
Dedicated to exploring and applying alternative technologies, the staff comprises of scientists, engineers, experts in their field, Tinkers, techno-wizards, and a few of the elusive VatFathers, coming from different species across the Megaverse. The facility itself is a massive network of labs, workshops, testing areas, quarters, and recycling plants that manufacture all the necessary materials needed for survival via massive nanite mixers. The concepts are created first, and then run through thousands of simulations to see if it is possible, then several prototypes are made parallel using different designs in order to ensure that if one fails the others will not. After rigorous testing and further fine tuning, the new creations are presented to a joint staff quarterly to see what will make it topside. So far, the majority have been kept in storage, in working condition but deemed hazardous, unethical, and more than once vomit inducing.
What is created ranges in all different kinds, from mixing Shermar and Paladin Steel tech, to breakthroughs including canned natural disasters, Class 5 BioConstructions, Monster Truck DeLorean Time Machine, (Undergoing repairs when it was in a demolition derby against a blue phone box.) even water down versions of Dominator tech.

Sponsoring Organization: Joint effort between PS/GNE and the Shemar/SSN
Outpost size: roughly 600 scientists/employed
Environment above colony: Nostalgia beasts walk the broken glass plains, blaring out the dead race’s greatest hits.

Notable/Natural Resources:
Garbage, waste, debris, scrap metal, basically anything that can be recycled Hedoro has it.

Type of Colony: Scientific

Security: Heavy, though most of the security was created by the staff, from massive autonomous worm bots to Spartolis modified by the staff.

Contact: Monthly

Facilities of Note:

The Gift Shops are the name for the storage areas for all the creations of the outpost, kept contained in massive self maintaining warehouses shrunk to fit inside a paper weight. In fact, most staff has a paper weight that they are fond of, but cannot explain the reason why.

The Harem Printers are part of director Hoyt Sparks way of boosting effectiveness of the staff, adding reinforcements, and making a secondary profit. Being a expert on crossovers and “fanon” universes, Hoyt has sent legions of drones to capture, clone in both body, mind, and soul, and release key people from “Fictional worldlines” so that they can print out modifiable clones of them. This has led to some oversight by Interdee to step in if things get out of hand. Fortunately, Hoyt has chosen worldlines that are parallel to the core canonverse, close for no major changes but far enough to not affect the canonverse.

Products: Too many to list, most of the industrial and then some unthinkable for good measure.

Any sufficiently large organization starts to have dirty little secrets, or corruption on some part...sometimes that corruption is destructive, sometimes it's ...useful.
Thank you, 89er, this furthers PS's expansion into the big leagues, justifies a whole basketload of weirdness, and gives PS its first genuine BIG BLACK secret.
It's like the Dilbert cartoon where Dilbert gets sent to Marketing, and discovers a bunch of people in robes wandering around feasting(on unicorn), drinking ambrosia, and carousing nonstop...and when they need an idea they go to the Well, ask their question, and an answer floats up from the depths. They follow this lifestyle for six days out of every week; seventh day, it's their turn in the Well....

Accompanying illo to come soon...

Paladin Steel “Allnut” Light FTL Transport
(aka ‘Trippie’, ‘Three-Breast’, ‘Steam Whistle’ )
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/img256.jpg

“Give a dozen of these ships to a dozen Belters, and by the end of the year, when you call them back in, ideally with the bait of a cash rebate, you’ll see twelve entirely different ships, with maybe only half of them sporting anything that looks recognizable as standard equipment. Making them modular’s just a challenge to the FringeFolk; they’ll see to it they come up with configurations you couldn’t imagine.”

“You fools! You wasted time and ammunition chasing down a DECOY! Didn’t you pay ANY attention to the updated alien commercial ship recognition guides?! That wasn’t some mud-crawler chem-rocket fitted with a wired-on stardrive! That was an ‘ASI Allnut-class light transport’! That wasn’t them trying to escape in a shuttlecraft hoping you would chase their reaction mass tanks! That was them throwing away half their engines and weapons in hopes you’d THINK they were abandoning crewless fuel tanks and boosters! And YOU FELL FOR IT!!! While you were chasing down a redundant engineering section, they wiggled and waggled and made themselves look like tossed-away garbage, and then they JUMPED to FTL when your back was turned! A Royal Cruiser and you couldn’t catch one third-class powered waste-can of a ship! You’ll be blessed if the Patriarchs just demand that the bridge crew hang themselves, and not order the entire ship’s complement decimated!”


The Allnut-class transport is a light starship very much in the spirit of the Sunchaser. Small, fast, light, and affordable, with a modular design that allows for fast customization and upgrades for a variety of purposes.
Appearance-wise, the Allnut looks like it was lifted from the pages of pre-Rifts Terran aerospace history, specifically design proposals for shuttle orbiter vehicles. The Allnut looks like two shuttle orbiters mated to either side of a central hydrogen-oxygen tank in a dual-launch mode, set upright. In reality, the more advanced Allnut is really one vehicle, the ‘orbiters’ being redundant propulsion sections anchored firmly to the central payload and habitat module. Two additional ‘tanks’ can be added to the sides of the core module to carry additional cargo or living space(see Options)---The Allnut can use the same modular pods as the arguably more classy ‘Sunchaser’. The Allnut is a ‘tail sitter’, landing and launching upright on its six fins. While this takes a bit more training, especially in atmospheric maneuvering, for pilots more accustomed to the more common ‘aerodyne’ arrangement of advanced spacecraft, the ship is remarkably stable.
Though the Allnut is not as aesthetically or technically pleasing as other designs such as the Sunchaser, the Allnut’s built-in redundancy and lower cost makes it popular with smaller operators, asteroid prospectors, and scouts looking for a rugged and capable small starship. Its ability to carry quite heavy armaments pods makes it popular with smaller colonies and aerospace paramilitaries looking to outfit ‘mosquito fleet’ forces.

Type: PS/ASI Allnut
Class: Light Aerospace Transport, FTL-capable
Crew: 6 (however, can be run effectively for short periods/or with extensive automation with a skeleton crew of two)
Main Hull accommodations for 12 passengers(30 under cramped conditions)+ possible Main Pod accommodations
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 2,700
Bridge 800
Engines(2) 700 each
Tail Fins(6) 500 each
Point Defense Turrets(2) 100 each
Weapons Bays(2) 200 each
Hull Modules(2, Optional) Typically 500-900 each
Forcefield(standard)* 900
Variable Forcefield(optional)**1,000 per side (6,000 total)

*Shield Refresh Rate is 5% per melee
**Shield Refresh Rate is 10% per melee

Height: 211 ft
Width: 134 ft wingspan
Length: 134 ft wingspan
Weight: 2,800 tons
Cargo: 180 tons internally
If not fitted with an FTL generator/drive system, the ship can carry an additional 100 tons of cargo in the open engineering space. If not carrying missiles or other weaponry in the ordnance bays, an additional 40 tons can be carried in each bay.
See also Options with regards to pods.
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion with 50 year energy life
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 6; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 8
(Kitsune Values: 60% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.8% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) None standard, but can be fitted with a variety of FTL drive packages. The standard Three Galaxies models are offered with a 3 light year /hour drive system
(Underwater) Not possible
Market Cost: 170 million (Rifts Earth)credits/ 48 million CCW credits* for the basic vehicle
(*PS may actually offer discounts for known Galactic buyers, in an effort to acquire more hard Galactic currency )
Systems of Note:
Standard Starship Systems:
*Full Sensor Suite---Specialized sensor pallets include radiation detectors and counters, spectrographic analysis devices, gravitic sensors, electromagnetic activity readers, and optics packages.
*Long Range Radar---Phased Array Search and Early Warning Radars
Maximum Target Resolution: 200,000 miles
*Laser Targeting-------100,000 miles
*Communications Suite:---Long Range Radio and Video
*Laser Communications ---Tactical (i.e. ship-to fighter/shuttle)Range: 250,000 miles
*Optical Tracking Clusters----These are transparent blisters fitted with gimbal-mounted high-resolution visible-light/IR/UV optical telescopes that continually scan the arc of sky before them. Linked to the navigational arrays and other tracking sensors, and to a series of highly sophisticated near-AI search and discrimination software systems, these sensors attempt to detect objects that have low radar returns/sensor signatures, such as stealthed vehicles, iceballs, or asteroids. The high-tech equivalent of the man in the crow’s nest with a pair of binoculars.

*Airlocks---The Allnut has three main airlocks/access points; two lateral airlocks through the engine pods, with extending pressurized docking tunnels and universal docking collars, a bottom main access/airlock lift(used when landed), and a large cargo lift in the rear of the central hull. If so desired, the hull pods can fitted with their own docking collars and airlocks.

*Life Pods---Has 2 eight-man life pod modules with emergency first aid gear, emergency beacons, crash kits, water filtration/recycling, and 1 month of life support/rations.

*Detachable Bridge Life Module----In addition to the life pods, the entire bridge module can detach and serve as a lifeboat. It has somewhat more maneuvering thrust capacity than the standard life pods, allowing it to rendezvous with the lifepods and shepherd them together(‘rafting’ them to share resources).

*Aerobrakes---Standard(if unlisted) equipment on most PS atmosphere-capable spacecraft; these deployable air foils and fence panels reduce speed by 10% every hour the spacecraft is skimming atmosphere.

Weapons Systems: None standard, but the two ‘orbiter’ engineering hulls can be fitted with a weapons station where the ‘cockpit’ would be, and additional space where the ‘payload bay’ could be can hold retractable weapons turrets, missile launchers, or sensor systems.
*Heavy Turrets(2)
a) Laser Cannon
Range:(Palladium) 5 miles in atmosphere, 10 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)5 miles in atmosphere, 500 miles in space
Damage: 6d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Unlimited

b) Particle Beam Cannon
Range:(Palladium) 4 miles in atmosphere, 8 miles in space
(Kitsune Values) 4 miles in atmosphere, 400 miles in space
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Unlimited

c) Ion Cannon
Range: (Palladium) 5 miles in atmosphere, 10 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)5 miles in atmosphere, 500 miles in space
Damage: 2d4x10 MD per blast,
In addition to physical damage, the cannon does EM damage. Percentage of EM damage is determined in relation to target’s main body((damage/main body)x100=percentage). For every 10% of damage from main body in ion damage, target will be -1 to strike, parry. and dodge. In space target acceleration will be reduced by 15%, in atmosphere top speed will be reduced by 15%. Roll once on critical hit charts in Phazeworld or Conversion book as appropriate.
If target takes 60% of main body in ion damage, ship or vehicle will be disabled completely. All weapon, navigation, and other systems will shut down and need to be repaired/replaced to work again/reboot.
Does NO damage against non-mechanical/electronic targets.
The ion cannon is equally effective against bionics
Rate of Fire: Five times per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

d) Plasma Cannon
Range: (Palladium) 2.5 miles in atmosphere, 5 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)2.5 miles in atmosphere, 250 miles in space
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: 5 times per melee
Payload: Unlimited

e) Rail Gun
Range:(Palladium) 11,000 ft(2 miles) in atmosphere, 20 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)11,000 ft(2 miles) in atmosphere, 200 miles in space
Damage: 3d4x10 MD per 40 rd burst(can only fire bursts)
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: 8,000 rds

f) 30mm Autocannons(1x4)
Range: (Palladium) 11,000 ft(2 miles) in atmosphere, 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)11,000 ft(2 miles) in atmosphere, 200 miles in space
Damage: 4d6 MD single rd, 1d6x10 MD two rd burst, 3d6x10 MD six-round burst per single cannon...so a full burst of six rounds each from all four cannons firing simultaneously....12d6x10!
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: 1,600 rds, 400 rds per cannon
Bonuses: Independent laser and radar tracking system; +1 strike set on automatic against aerial attack, +2 strike fired by gunner

*Ordnance Bays(2)
a)Mini-Missile Launcher----100 MMs(Volleys of 1-10)
b) Short Range Missile Launcher----48 SRMs(Volleys of 1-12)
c) Medium Range Missile Launcher----24 MRMs(Volleys of 1-6)
d) Long Range Missile Launcher----8 LRMs(Volleys of 1-4)
e) Cruise Missile Launcher---3 (Volleys of 1-3)
f) Space Mines----10
g) Countermeasure Launchers---Three different types of decoys can be deployed:---
The first is simple sensor-reflective chaff and thermo-flares. These countermeasures are inexpensive and very effective against lower-end targeting systems and sensor equipment(such as that used by nations equivalent to the Coalition States on Rifts Earth), but are ineffectual against more advanced technology.
Range: Close Defense
Damage: None; similar to Triax-style chaff
01-50 Enemy Missile or volley detonates in chaff and threat is neutralized
51-75 Missile/Volley diverts and may pursue/lock on to other targets
76-00 No Effect! Missile(s) still on target!
Will also temporarily blind and impede flying monsters who fly into it.
In space, anything flying at high speed through the cloud will take 2d6 MD +1d6 MD per every 100 miles of speed over 670 MPH.
Reduce APMs/combat bonuses/ speed by half for 1d4 melees
Payload: 36

The second system releases a nanotech swarm of active jamming pods and decoys that are programmed to emulate a spacecraft’s sensor signature, or, at the very least, bury enemy tactical communications in ‘white noise’.
Effective Range: 25 mile jamming radius
Duration: 5 minutes per pod-spray
Effects: Jams radio signals(75% chance of jamming military band command-guidance ordnance), and 60% chance of deflecting ordinary missiles.
Payload: 9 swarm packs

The third system uses modified grav-pack drives and signal projectors to create a moving pattern of sensor signatures. The grav-pack mini-missile drives can go for 10 minutes before self-destructing, and can either be remotely directed or run a preset pattern.
Effective Speed: Mach 6
Duration: 10 minutes per pod
Effects: The decoys have a 70% chance of fooling enemy sensor operators and expert systems. They are are also +2 to enemy sensor-guided munitions to strike, increasing the chance that the missiles will elect to pursue the ‘louder’ sensor signature(the missile rolls to strike for both the original ship and each decoy deployed....highest to strike roll determines which target the missile(s) go after).
Payload: 6 decoys are carried, and can be deployed singly, or in ‘packs’ of 1-3.


Auxiliary Craft: None, unless outfitted with hangar modules(see Options)

Options:
*** Pod Modules---The Allnut can carry two modular pods on lateral mounts(2 MUST be mounted, in order to balance the hull); here are a few of the standard pod types available commercially;

*Passenger Pod(Commuter)(typically 550 MDC)----Basic accommodations for 30 people(another 15 can be shoehorned in under emergency conditions, but life support will be reduced to 50%, and conditions will be cramped).
Cost: 200,000 credits

*Passenger Pod(Luxury)(typically 500-800 MDC)----Luxury accommodations for VIPs or a wealthy ship owner. Usually accessorized with additional security features(EM shielding, separate communications suite, independent forcescreening, etc....). Typically houses 1-10 people in close, but high, comfort.
Cost: 200,000 + credits, depending on interior fittings

*Cargo Pod(typically 500 MDC)---Basic cargo pod can hold up to 100 tons.
Special purpose cargo pods outfitted for special cargoes, like high-security pay-vault pods(with their own security systems), shielded radiation containment vessels, exotic environment pods, or cryogenic storage modules, can cost 100-500% more, depending on the modifications.
Cost: 110,000 credits

*Heavy Drive Boosters---These are massive powerful normal-space booster units that work in tandem to punch up the speed of the spacecraft. Two MUST be fitted, taking the place of any other options. Popular with couriers and runners.
Speed: Improve atmospheric and sublight speed by 80%, so sublight speed is now Mach 14.
Cost: 28 million credits
Note: Booster systems capable of accelerating the Allnut up to Mach 16 and Mach 19 are also rumored to be available/in the works, for correspondingly higher expense, but these systems appear to currently be available only to PS/GNE/ASI insiders.

*Light Boosters ---These are smaller drive booster units that can be fitted to the rear/bottom of any standard module without affecting its function. They don’t offer the same kick of raw speed as the HDBs, but they can still give the ship a significant improvement in speed.
Speed: Improve atmospheric and sublight speed by 20%
Cost: 8 million credits


*Fighter Cradle---This module mounts a shell of light armor over a framework of docking armatures and system hookups, allowing the forward point to hold a single aerospace fighter, combat robot, or small shuttle. The protective ‘hangar shell’ provides 800 MDC.
Cost: 800,000 credits

* Recon Pod---No armaments, but this module package is crammed to the gills with long range military sensor equipment, including lidar, terrain mapping radar, EW detection/locator gear, gravitic sensors(8,000 mile range).
Cost: 6 million credits, plus extra for any specifically specialized sensor types.

*Long Range Sensor Pod---This module typically has a bulbous nose protruding well ahead of the rest of the ship, and holds gravitic sensors capable of detecting normal drive activity at 1 million miles away and FTL drive activity up to 18 light years away. Cost: 18 million credits.

* EW Pod--A powerful version of fighter onboard ECM systems, intended to provide wide area sensor jamming for squadrons or defense grid penetrations. This pod has provision for a three man EW operations crew
Effects:(Jamming) Jams civilian band communications with 90% effectiveness, military systems with 75% effectiveness. Enemy radar- and laser-guided weaponry is -4 to strike
(Cloaking) 95% chance of evading sensor detection to everything in the area of effect. All weapons fired at the craft in the cloaked field are -5 to hit
Range:(Jamming)800 miles
(Cloaking)1,000 ft radius
Cost: 85 million credits, and ONLY to approved customers


* Forcefield Generator Pod--A more powerful forcefield generator that produces a battlescreen of 3,000 per side (18,000 total) MDC strength(regenerates at 5% per melee)
Cost: 9 million credits


**Weapons Pods:
These pods typically have their own onboard power system, as well as targeting systems, though they can be tied to the ship’s own power grid and sensor suites.

* Missile Pod Type A-Carries 150 short range missiles(SRMs)(Volleys of 1-15)
Cost: 12.4 million credits, plus cost of the ordnance

* Missile Pod Type B-Carries 80 medium range missiles(MRMs)(Volleys of 1-10)
Cost: 12 million credits, plus cost of the ordnance

* Missile Pod Type C--Carries 20 long range missiles(LRMs)(Volleys of 1-5)
Cost: 30 million credits, plus cost of the ordnance

* Missile Pod Type D---Carries 10 cruise missiles(Volleys of 1-2)
Cost: 32 million credits, plus cost of the ordnance

*Special Weapons Pod(Exclusive to Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries)---This allows the Allnut to carry and deploy a single Long Lance III or IV Heavy Nuclear Missile.

*Special Spacial Demolitions Pod(aka ‘Rock Buster’)----This is a variable-mode heavy shaped-charge plasma-nuclear warhead meant for destroying rogue asteroids and comets, or at least pushing them on new and harmless courses. The demolition payload is mounted on a thruster-equipped ‘bus’ that is docked to the SunChaser’s pod-mount, and deployed when within suitable range of the target. Depending on the type of target, if the target asteroid is relatively ‘soft’ and easily broken up, the warhead will maneuver to direct the plasma jet produced upon detonation so as to carve the asteroid apart. If the asteroid is too large or solid for this to be effective, the warhead will be maneuvered and oriented so as to provide a powerful boost, ideally pushing the target on a new trajectory.
The maneuvering ‘bus’ is too slow(about Mach 3 at maximum burn) to make it an effective weapon against other spacecraft(too easily spotted and shot down/evaded), though it could conceivably be used against a spacestation or already crippled vessel.
Range: Typically deployed from about 200 to 1,000 miles away from the target.
Damage: 1d6x1,000 MD to a 200 ft wide, 5,000 ft long, area

* Cannon Pod Type A---Mounts a high power gauss cannon
Range:(Palladium) 5 miles in atmosphere, 10 miles in space
(Kitsune Values) 10 miles in atmosphere, 10,000 miles in space
Damage: 6d6x10 MD per 20 rd burst
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 10,000 rds(500 bursts)
Cost: 3.6 million credits

* Cannon Pod Type B---Mounts a slightly less powerful rail cannon and 16 MRMs(or 32 SRMs) behind it.
Range:(Gauss Cannon)(Palladium) 6,000 ft in atmosphere, 4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)4 miles in atmosphere. 4,000 miles in space
(Missiles) Varies by Missile Type(x4 in space)
(Kitsune Values: SRMs: 10 miles in atmosphere, 500 miles in space.
MRMs: 160 miles in an atmosphere and 80,000 miles in space.)
Damage: (Gauss Cannon)4d6x10 MD per 20 rd burst
(Missiles) Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire:(Gauss Cannon) ECHH
(Missiles) Volleys of 1,2,4, or 8
Payload:(Gauss Cannon) 1,000 rd drum(500 bursts)
(Missiles)16 MRMs OR 32 SRMs
Cost: 2.8 million credits, plus cost of the ordnance

*Cannon Pod Type C---Mounts a double-mount heavy kinetic kill weapon of the type already deployed as a secondary armament on many PS/ASI capital ships. Known as the ‘A-1000’, ‘Triple-Ugly-Stick’, ‘Sword-Swallower’, and ‘Triple-Hammer’, this weapon pod’s mounting means the entire ship has to be pointed to fire it. Its recoil-vibration back into the structure of the Allnut requires extra care to piloting and programming the maneuvering thrusters to compensate for the weapon when firing; otherwise it will impose a -10% to piloting rolls the melee round the weapon is being fired. Double these penalties if TWO such weapons pods are mounted.
Range: (Palladium) 10 miles in atmosphere, 40 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 40 miles in atmosphere/ 40,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per 80 rd burst, 2d4x100 MD double cannon burst,
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 32,000 rds(400 bursts) per cannon
Cost: 20 million credits

* Energy Weapon Pod Type A---Mounts a high powered laser cannon. This is an extremely powerful weapon, but its power and range are offset by its slow rate of fire.
Range: (Palladium)8 miles in atmosphere, 16 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 16 miles in atmosphere, 16,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: 4 shots per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 60 million credits

* Energy Weapon Pod Type B---Mounts a more powerful x-ray laser cannon that can punch through laser-ablative/reflective armors
Range:(Palladium)9 miles in atmosphere, 18 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 18 miles in atmosphere, 18,000 miles in space)
Damage: 3d6x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 75 million credits

* Energy Weapon Pod Type C---Mounts a high powered Ion Destabilizer cannon
Range:(Palladium)5 miles in atmosphere,10 miles in space
(Kitsune Values) 10 miles in atmosphere, 10,000 miles in space Damage: 1d4x100 MD per blast,
In addition to physical damage, the cannon does EM damage. Percentage of EM damage is determined in relation to target’s main body((damage/main body)x100=percentage). For every 10% of damage from main body in ion damage, target will be -1 to strike, parry. and dodge. In space target acceleration will be reduced by 15%, in atmosphere top speed will be reduced by 15%. Roll once on critical hit charts in Phazeworld or Conversion book as appropriate.
If target takes 60% of main body in ion damage, ship or vehicle will be disabled completely. All weapon, navigation, and other systems will shut down and need to be repaired/replaced to work again/reboot.
Does NO damage against non-mechanical/electronic targets.
The ion cannon is equally effective against bionics
Rate of Fire: Five times per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 60 million credits

* Energy Weapon Pod Type D---Mounts a high powered Particle Beam Cannon. Like the “Energy-A” configuration, this pod’s power is offset by a slow rate of fire, and greater expense.
Range: 7 miles in atmosphere, 14 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 14 miles in atmosphere, 14,000 miles in space)
Damage: 4d4x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: 3 shots per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 50 million credits

* Energy Weapon Pod Type E---Mounts a high powered Plasma Torpedo Launcher
Range: (Palladium)10 miles in atmosphere, 20 miles in space
(Kitsune) 20 miles in atmosphere, 20,000 miles in space
Damage: 2d4x100 MD to a 120 ft diameter blast radius
Energy ‘torpedo’ has a disruption MDC of 50
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 55 million credits

Paladin Steel VK-II Android Vampire Killer
(aka ‘Vicki’, ‘Buffy’, ‘Buffy-Bot’, ‘VampTramp’,’Q-Girl’, ‘Stake-Bait’, ‘Match-stake Girl’)
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/img241.jpg

“Oh help me, senor, for I am but a poor peasant girl, and my family farm is far from here...and it is so dark out there....”
“Then come closer, come with us, little one, and join us for our dinner...”
“May I, kind sir? May I? I would like so very much to!”
---A hunting VK-II being led to a target.

The VK-II Vampire Killer Android is just the latest of PS’s technological wonders designed to break the fang-grip on the American Southwest. Though Paladin Steel has largely focused its attention on the northern regions of the hemisphere, they are aware of the vampire threat looming to the south, and have begun gearing up to face it. Paladin Steel, and in particular Paladin Steel West, have quietly been shipping various proven anti-vampire systems( wooden rail gun rounds, TW sunlight flares, motorized supersoakers, etc...) to the New West, selling at below cost to known vampire-slayer groups like Reid’s Rangers. Around the towns and facilities beholding to PS, the company has been deploying roving patrols of hunter-killers, gathering information on the threat and doing what they can to fight it. A large amount of silver mined from offworld ends up in the weapons systems of the New West contingents as well. And more sophisticated measures are being developed.
Among one of Paladin Steel West’s assets was the salvaged remains of Horizont Technologies, a pre-Rifts company that, while small, was noted as a ‘think tank’ of avant-garde innovation in the fields of bionics and robotics, especially human-simulation systems. Horizont was best known for its stylish, cutting-edge cyberhumanoids, biosystem replicant systems, and advanced neural-interface systems. While PS is loathe to discuss exactly what and how much they found going through Horizont, much of what has been learned from the unearthed facilities has gone into the latest generations of cyborgs and android systems produced by Paladin Steel.
Working in absolute secrecy, combining alien technologies and biotech acquired from the Cambridge Jungle and NEMA-era companies such as Horizont Technologies, PS has been creating a series of sophisticated androids that could arguably challenge ARCHIE-3’s for level of advancement(ARCHIE-3 still has the edge in pure mass production, though). PS and PSW have been quiet about these developments, but PS-produced bio-androids, based on cyberhumanoid technologies, have begun to make their way into the corporate culture and GNE society and various roles, including PS’s quiet campaign against the Undead.
In the course of the crusade, PSWest discovered that its cyberoid cyborgs were excellent vampire hunters. Their psuedo-flesh and residual neural-electrical signature made them appear perfectly human, even to the acute senses of vampires, while their augmented nervous systems made them resistant to all forms of vampire mind control, enslavement, and transformation. This made them ideal for ambushing vampires. However, the cyborgs were expensive to produce and their numbers were (initially) very limited. Furthermore, their skills and talents were urgently needed in a number of other fields, and not all cyberhumanoids wanted to sign up for the dirty, dusty, low-glamour, if very important, role of vampire slayer. Under its own constitutional rulings, PW could not force its employees to sign up en mass as vampire-hunters unless Paladin Steel/Greater New England properties came under direct attack and threat.
What was needed was a less expensive, more easily produced, more compliant, dedicated vampire killer machine, or at the very least, one that didn’t put a life at risk. PSW has already sent hundreds, if not thousands, of its robot troopers and drone UAVs into the field armed with everything from sharpened stakes to advanced TW Sunlight Lasers, but the clunky, obvious, machines were easily avoided by vampire packs who learned to identify their mechanical spoor before they could maneuver into killing range. What was needed was a complement to the drones, that could appear disarmingly human, both as decoys and as bait.
The solution was to modify the new cyberoid androids to the task. PSW set about creating a dedicated, merciless, undead-eliminator wrapped in the most appetizing wrapping possible.
Though rather more expensive than the standard cyberoid, and definitely more expensive and sophisticated than a standard android drone, VK-IIs are decidedly cheaper, ethically, than sending warm-blooded living beings into the teeth/fangs of vampiric death.
While VK-IIs can be produced to any human description, including large and muscular or fat and ugly, most of the line are modeled to resemble fairly fit, attractive, humanoids(especially baseline humans), with over 60% being female in appearance and personality(supposedly based on reports that vampires seemed drawn towards apparently fit and healthy individuals). Their augmented pseudo-flesh is designed to give off all the appropriate chemical and thermal cues as real human flesh, and a small embedded quartz ‘charm’ crystal gives the android a false residual PPE trace(about 1d6 PPE). Depending on what their apparent somatotype is supposed to be, VK-IIs are programmed to act ‘average’ in their personalities and attitudes...Some will be boisterous and oblivious, while others will be meek and easily intimidated...all traits designed to appear normal and non-threatening, and attractive to supernatural predators seeking easy prey. This means that the android may walk willingly and apparently obliviously into a trap, or may act skittish and run terrified if pursued by a monster...until cornered.
Once the balloon goes up, and the VK-II identifies its attackers and their numbers, the kid gloves come off, the act is dropped, and the android switches to the offensive, becoming an entirely different creature. Incredibly strong and incredibly fast, the androids can smack aside most vampire minions with ease on their way to the main show, to pin and incapacitate their undead foes long enough to stake and dissolve them.
VK-IIs are programmed to be fully versed in the operation and servicing of all common weapons with anti-vampire capabilities, and their robotic sensors allow them to be almost unerringly accurate with them. They are capable of picking up and using everything from a wooden chair leg to an ultramodern pulse rifle. Besides what weapons they may carry outside, VK-IIs also carry an impressive internal arsenal; silver plated finger claws, detachable holy metal daggers, arm and leg-mounted stake-drivers, subcutaneous luminescent cross tattoos, and mouth-mount squirt guns are among their tricks for demolishing vampires in close combat.

VK-IIs are designed with combat-learning chips that allow them to adapt and grow with experience in combat skills. In time, without periodic resets(‘bank wipes’) this differentiation may bleed over into the personality centers, and the android will exhibit increasing eccentricities in personality, approaching borderline full self-actualization threshold, While this may help the android become more adept at blending into normal human society, it may also lead to a cyber-cerebral nervous breakdown as the inadequately ‘trained’ biochips attempt to make connections and deal with levels of non-related cognitive function they aren’t programmed for. As a result, PS regularly rotates VK-II units for memory download and evaluation, followed by bank wipe and reset. Particularly useful ‘evolved’ behaviors are copied and reloaded into the originating unit and subsequent units. If a cyberpersona shows a high probability of maturation and stability, the android is ‘promoted’...refit into a more advanced android/cyborg form with the possibility of full human/sentient rights and given a say in its future role/deployment.
Most VK-IIs are disguised to be part of the local crowd....dressed and programmed to act as peasants, local villagers, nomads, and vagabonds, but a few VK-IIs openly flaunt their nature and function, especially when part of obvious vampire-killer teams. The sub-series known as the ‘Cheyenne Set’ are particularly notorious. Rumor has it, these small, fiery-haired killing machines were ‘ghostdubbed’ from the nervous system of a Secondary Vampire who happened to have been a friend, before her involuntary vampiric conversion, of a PSW cyberneticist. While the robotic ‘offspring’ of the murdered woman may not exhibit any of the memories of their progenitor, they seem to take a particularly vicious glee and display cold expertise in slaying vampires. Dressed in war gear of skintight black skinsuits with a silver-white cross emblazoned over one breast, the Cheyennes are a not-easily-forgotten sight as they leap into combat, often in the vanguard of a troop of drone robots or Metal Mages, kicking and palmstriking stakes into vampires and obliterating them with heavy weapons. Other VK-IIs are less notorious, but no less effective in their roles...under many siesta-lowered cloaks and sombreros, or huddled under a travel-worn, threadbare blanket, is a biodroid sentinel, scanning the surroundings for the spoor of undead foes....
It is not known how many VK-IIs PS has deployed in the pueblos and scrub-brush communities of the SouthWest, but it is presumed that hundreds have been sent to circulate and bait the vampires of the region into ambushes. They typically operate alone or in small groups, as autonomous units or as part of a vampire-hunting force, though there are rumors that PSW has set up entire towns and pueblos of VK-IIs posing as regular folks in order to lure and destroy larger bands of vampires.

Paladin Steel has kept these super-sophisticated androids a closely-guarded secret(in part because they don’t want to advertise their capabilities and because they don’t want word to get back to the vampires). The few times VK-IIs have appeared in public and been revealed as anything other than regular human(oid)s, they’ve been explained away as cyberhumanoid cyborgs.

Besides the vampire hunters, androids of the VK-series are employed by Paladin Steel Security and several have been programmed as administrative assistants. There is even some talk of according the more advanced models sentient rights and Citizenship, if it can be proven that they are indeed sentient. Naturally, these discussions are of considerable interest to the Ecotroz infiltrators that have been Awakened by the EShemar to spy on their erstwhile allies in the GNE.

The following details the specifics of cyberhumanoid VK-series androids detailed specifically to vampire-hunting in the New West. Other VK-II chassis androids assigned to other duties will have different skill programming and peripheral systems.

“Meat’s not supposed to move like that! It’s a tr-”
---Last words of ‘El Rey Diabolo’, Vampire Ganglord.

Type: PS-VK-2
Class: Special Operations Vampire Killer Android
Intelligence Type: Robot Intelligence
S.D.C./MDC by Location:
Head 85
Main Body 180
Arms 65 each
Hands 25 each
Legs 70 each
Feet 30 each
Skin Covering 15
A.R. 13
Height: 5-7 ft tall(human average)
Weight: 120-300 lbs(Generally the same as a similarly sized humanoid, +25 lbs)
Cargo: Three small internal compartments (one in each leg, and one in the upper torso, under an armpit) large enough to hold a clip of silver bullets, crucifix, vial of holy water, or silver/wooden dagger.
Physical Strength: Robotic P.S. of 25
Powerplant: Micro-Fusion Bottle w/ 10 year energy life
Physical Attributes:
I.Q.: (Robot A.I.) 19
M.A.: 12
P.P.: 24
P.B.: 10-20
Speed:(Running) 90 MPH
(Leaping) 20 ft up/32 ft across. Increase by 30% with running start.
(Climbing) Climbs at 96%/86%
(Swimming) VK-IIs deployed in the arid West generally don’t have to worry about large bodies of water, and if they do come across lakes or rivers too deep to easily ford, they can simply walk along the bottom. Maximum Depth Tolerance: 800 ft.
(Flying) Not possible without some external means, such as a jet pack.

Market Cost: Paladin Steel hasn’t quoted a price on these miracles, in part due to the sheer secrecy of the program, but it’s estimated that each unit costs somewhere in the area of 3-4 million credits, or more. Some Rifts Earth rivals, like Triax would pay 2-3 times that to get a fully functional example to study and reverse-engineer.

Systems of Note:
*Basic Robot Optics and Audio
*Thermal Imaging, Telescopic, and Passive Night Vision Optics
*Universal Headjack(behind one ear)
*Molecular Analyzer Olfactory Sensors
*Full Tactile/Motion Detector Sensory Net Skin(w/ pleasure/pain sensory simulation/stimulation). 500 ft range.

*Simulated Organic Covering/Components----Like their Cyberoid cousins, the VK-IIs are fitted with a form of advanced artificial skin, as well as being fitted with various cloned synthetic bio-system organs to give them a fully organic appearance, feel, and even smell....The artificial skin can blush, be cut, bruised, and even bleed, and will even regenerate and scar convincingly in some cases(heals 5 SDC or 1 MDC per hour, but only with special nutritional supplements and injections)...Only taste or detailed chemical analysis will reveal the synthetic nature of the tissues. The android does need to intake special nutrients and enzymes at least once a week to maintain the ‘aliveness’ of the artificial flesh.

*Micro-Repair Robot System---This system allows the android to repair minor damage, rents in its skin, and tears in its body plating. The system can repair up to 240 MDC before needing to be recharged.

*PPE Sensor---An ultra-miniaturized copy of PS’s adapted SNARLSystem(see Rifts Japan for details). This ‘third eye’ system allows the ‘bot to detect supernatural presences.

*Integral Internal PPE Amulet System---This was initially designed to give the VK-II the appearance of life to those with fey senses, but has been expanded to give the ‘droids limited TW abilities(can be upgraded, if so deemed). Typically has 1d6 PPE, but can be expanded in capacity and modified with special ectofiber power conduits and internal multiplexors, to allow the android to operate TW weaponry and even cast spells!

Weapons Systems:
1)Arm Plasma Rod(1)---Hidden in one arm is a retractable plasma blast stick, for taking down vampire minions and burning staked-down vampires.
Range: 800 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 24 shots, recharges within one hour

2)TW Sunlight Laser Arm Rod(1)---Located in one arm is a retractable TW Sunlight Laser rod.
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage: 2d6 MD single blast, double damage to beings sensitive to sunlight, 4d6 HP to vampires.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Conditionally unlimited; the spells must be renewed every six months, or it otherwise takes 4 P.P.E. per shot.

3) Eye Lasers---These weapons give the phrase ‘if looks could kill’ a lethal new meaning....
Range: 400 ft
Damage: 2d6 MD single blast, 4d6 MD dual blast(counts as one attack)
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

4)Retractable Silver Finger Claws---Each finger can sprout a stylishly shiny, appropriately expensive, and quite lethal silver-plated molecular blade. In a pinch, these nails can be detached and thrown like daggers or darts, recovered, then re-attached.
Range: Melee
If thrown as a projectile, can travel 90 ft.
Damage: 1 MD per nail(+5 MD to a full open hand raking scratch), 1d4 HP to vampires(5d4 HP full open hand raking scratch)
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited as a melee weapon; (5 nails per hand)

5)Foot Spiker(2)---Mounted in each heel of the android is a stake driver for delivering a pinning kick and implanting a silver or hard wood spike. The spike can be detached and left in place, and recovered later.
Range: Melee
Damage: 3d6 SDC/HP per wooden stake
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 3 stakes per leg

6) Mouth High Powered HydroCannon---Essentially an esophagus-mounted supersoaker; the android can spit or vomit a stream of water.
Range: 300 ft
Damage: 5d6 HP to vampires
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 15 shots before needing refilling

7) Detachable Extendable Knee and Elbow Spikes(4)---The knee and elbow joints can extend a five-inch long silver needle or sharpened wooden crossbow bolt for an elbow shot or knee strike. If a critical staking strike is made, the android can then detach the spike, leaving it in place to hold the vampire long enough for a killing strike(like decapitation and follow-up burning).
Range: Melee
Damage: 3d6 SDC/HP per wooden stake
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Each knee and elbow has 2 spikes(8 total). Must be manually reloaded.

8 ) Skin-glow Cross Tattoos----VK-IIs commonly have special light emitting fiber optics or raised silver strips under their skin that can be activated/raised to display a cross or other symbol of protection on their body, usually the forehead, chest, or shoulders. These symbols can be used to hold off a vampire or other similarly-phobic beast, or at least disconcert them long enough to gain a temporary respite/advantage. Under the best of circumstances, the sudden appearance of a cross or other symbol has a H.F. 11 against the undead.

Hand to Hand Combat:
Actions/Attacks per Melee: 7
Initiative +4
Strike +7
Parry +9
Dodge +8, +9 while running
Roll +4
Pull +6
Disarm +2
Critical Strike on unmodified 18-20
Automatic Knockout on a Natural 20
Restrained Punch 6d6 SDC
Full Strength Punch 1d4 MD
Power Punch (2 attacks) 2d4 MD
Kick 1d6 MD
Leap Kick 2d6 MD

Programming:
Radio: Basic 94%
Mathematics: Basic 98%
Parachuting 90%
Military Etiquette 96%
Climbing 96/86%
Gymnastics 90%
Boxing
General Repair and Maintenance 80%
Intelligence 90%
Lore: Demons and Monsters(specifically Vampires) 80%
Forgery 78%
Undercover Ops 90%
I.D. Undercover Agent 78%
Rogue: 70%
Land Navigation 94%
Automobile 96%
Pilot Hovercraft OR Hovercycle 92%
Weapons Systems 90%

1-3 Domestic skills(the better to fit into the populace) at 80%

Language/Literacy
English 94%
Spanish 94%
Dragonese 94%
Techno-Can 94%

Hand to Hand: Expert
W.P. Paired Weapons
W.P. Blunt(+3 strike, +3 parry, +1 throw)
W.P. Knife(+4 strike, +6 parry, +3 throw)
W.P. Archery(+4 strike)
W.P. Targeting(+2 strike)
W.P. Staff(+2 strike, +2 parry, +1 throw)
W.P. Spear(+3 strike, +3 parry, +2 throw)
W.P. Chain(+2 strike, +2 parry)
W.P. Handgun(+3 strike, +4 on aimed shot, +1 with burst)
W.P. Shotgun(+3 strike)
W.P. Submachine Gun(+3 strike, +4 on aimed shot, +1 with burst)
W.P. Rifles(+3 strike, +4 on aimed shot, +1 with burst)
W.P. Energy Rifle or Heavy MD Weapons
W.P. Energy Pistol(+3 strike, +4 on aimed shot, +1 with burst)

Field Equipment:
VK-IIs will be provided with sets of common clothing and gear appropriate to their area of operation and cover identity...Typically, this clothing will have several hidden interior pockets for holding stakes and other anti-vampire weapons. They will also have several months supply of the special dietary supplements for their biosystems(pills and powders).
VK-IIs operating openly as part of an anti-vampire taskforce will carry heavy weapons and wear armor appropriate to the task. ‘Plain clothes’ , skinsuit, and other concealed or common types of armor are common issue.

Options:
*TW Systems---The success of the TW Sunbeam blasters in the VK-IIs has encouraged PS to test the androids with a more versatile system based on the Ghanam Powerstones. This system fits the VK-II with a forearm implant Ghanam Powerstone matrix, a cylinder or hexagonal rod of crystal 3-5 inches long and 3-4 inches in diameter and able to accumulate PPE.
PPE Capacity:(Light)----100 PPE battery capacity; recharges at 5 PPE per hour, 10 PPE/hour at a leyline, 20 PPE/hour on a nexus or in a dimensional pyramid
Spells: The Powerstone is hardwired to project up to FOUR different spells, typically those proven most effective against vampires. A standard loadout is typically the following:
-Water Blast---10 PPE per 40 blasts, 200 ft range, 4d6 HP to vampires.
- Lightblade---10 PPE, 1d4x10+10 MD per strike(full HP damage to vampires) 10 minute duration
-Desiccate the Supernatural---25 PPE, 500 ft range(or, if the VK-II can touch two vampires at the same time, it can affect both of them in one go), 3d6x10 MD/HP.
-Lifeblast--- 8 PPE, 300 ft range, Effects as per description on Rifts Book of Magic, pg. 108. Does 1d6x10 HP to vampires, Equiv, to 10th level spell.

A Water Magic-based Powerstone would have the following:
-Frostblade---4 PPE, 20 minutes duration, 4d6 MD per strike, 2d6 HP to vampires.
-Water Blast---10 PPE per 40 blasts, 200 ft range, 4d6 HP to vampires.
-Water Rush--- 8 PPE per blast, 100 ft range, 20 ft wide area, 1d4x10 HP to vampires. Targets caught in this blast of water will be swept away up to 100 ft downstream, and must roll a 15 or better(+ any parry bonuses) to hang onto handheld possession such as weapons).
-Water Dump---4 PPE per blast/shower, 60 ft range, 1d6x10 HP to vampires and -4 to dodge.

Variants:
*VK-IIC ‘Cheyenne’---As noted above, this variant was designed by a PSW cyberneticist(though some sources claim this particular engineer was no one less than the legendary Patrika Tendii of Horizont Technologies) and was modelled after a friend who had been converted into a Secondary Vampire. The Cheyennes use modified neural architecture, including improved hand to hand capabilities(they possess Hand to Hand Martial Arts at an 8th level of proficiency). They were also the first to carry the Ghanam Powerstone implants.

It is suspected that other variants, differing mainly in their programming, are employed by PS in various functions.

very well done love it
love the artwork too you did it?,Nice

Thank you, taalismn.

abtex wrote:Thank you, taalismn.

Gotta uphold the high end of the "high-low' PS tech spectrum...lots of low-cost low-tech high-durability products to pay for the bleeding edge programs.

Paladin Steel PSIR-14 “Vandegrift” Ion Assault Rifle
(aka ‘Grifgun’, ‘Van-slam’)
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/img259.jpg

“The new PSIR-14 Ion Assault Rifle. Putting extra polish on Golden Age technology!”

“We used to get by with old M-16 replicas firing explosive bullets, then PS offered us a chance at the new PSIR-14s. More expensive, yes, but they pack a helluva lot bigger punch! And what with the Splugorth twigging to our activities and putting a price on our heads, we need the extra firepower!”
---Sistah Sabre, Erinyes gangmember

Since becoming aware of the New Navy, Paladin Steel has long endeavored to land a supply contract with the proud-lineaged military service. Though the New Navy has remained staunchly aloof from any long-term business dealings with powers on North America(or outside the New Navy itself for the most part), PS has still regularly tried to interest them in new developments. In a way, PS’s entire ion weapons program can be attributed to the New Navy, since the first efforts to sell the New Navy on the PSIP-2 ‘ Smasher’ Rapid Fire Ion Submachine Pistol fell flat, and PS subsequently scrambled to salvage the design, producing a wide range of improvements in ion weaponry ever since.
The PSIR-14 could appear to be another blatant attempt to land a contract with the New Navy, seeing as the weapon is obviously a reverse-engineered M160 Ion assault Rifle, improved with PS ion weapons technology. Slightly heavier, but retaining almost identical looks, the PSIR-14 incorporates both modular barrel technology and Series-2098 enhancements.
The PSIR-14 is essentially an upgraded M-160, taking advantage of both New Navy and post-Rifts North American technology. Improved focal elements given an improved delivery of energy on-target. Quick-swap barrel modules allow for a variety of fire modes to be added. Improved superconductors make for more efficient power use, allowing more shots to be squeezed out from the e-clips. The weapon has even been re-cased to be neutrally bouyant in water, a plus in amphibious operations. The PSIR-14 is more expensive per unit than the M-160, but is much more capable as a weapon.
The main complaints about the PSIR-14 are that with a modification module attached, the weapon sits rather front-heavy. This is particularly pronounced with the addition of an underbarrel grenade launcher or shotgun tube. Also, while the rifle is sturdily built, the wire stock is considered by many to be inadequate in close quarters boarding actions, where rifles are frequently used as clubs. Typically then, a more solid buttstock is made available for attachment, especially when underbarrel launchers are mounted.
Thus far, the PSIR-14 has seen combat trials with the GNENavy, and with select affiliated paramilitary units(Irregulars) who have given the rifle high marks. However, despite several sales pitches made through agents at Tritonia, the New Navy remains silent on whether they will acquire the weapon or purchase its design specs. Paladin Steel sales agents, however, remain confident that the PSIR-14 may be the product that cracks the New Navy sales barrier to doing business with them.
Weight: 8.5 lbs
MDC: 45
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD per single shot, 1d6x10 MD per triple shot burst.
On a Natural 20(Critical Strike) the ion weapon does TRIPLE damage instead of the normal double damage.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 35 shots short e-clip, 55 shots long e-clip, shots drum e-canister
Regenerating E-clip Power Pack provides 42 shots, and regenerates 4 shots per hour.
Special Features:
*Integral Carrying Handle and Top Sight Rail
*Underbarrel rail for grenade launchers or bayonets.
*Folding Wire Stock
*Neutrally Bouyant
Cost: 42,000 credits
Options:
-Parts of the PSIR-14’s furniture(the wire stock, carrying handle, and barrel shroud-sleeve) can be swapped out for those parts on the New Navy’s M-160 (the PS-service version notably uses the same top rail as that on their M-16 repligun series), without affecting the weapon’s performance.

*Barrel Modules:
Note: It takes a person with the Weapons Engineer skill a successful roll and about 8 minutes to install and test one of the following modules, those with the Armorer/Field Armorer skill about 20 minutes, and someone following the printed instructions about 40-50 to install/swap modules.

*Ion Scatter-Shot Module---This is a barrel clip-on that turns the PSIR-14 into a short range shotgun with an area of effect blast. Reduce range to 500 ft, but does 4d6 MD to a 10 ft wide area. Critical damage is unaffected. Cost: 5,000 credits

*Ion Booster Module---Another barrel attachment that boosts the range of the ion bolts, albeit with a small reduction in damage capability. Reduce damage to 3d6 MD, but boost range to 1,800 ft. Critical damage is unaffected. Cost: 7,000 credits

*Ion Focal Booster Module---Aka ‘Puncher’---This barrel attachment improves the focus of the ion pulse density, improving damage at the cost of range. Reduce range to 700 ft, but up damage to 5d6 MD per shot. Critical damage is unaffected. Cost: 5,000 credits.

*Laser Sight Module---Another under/sidebarrel attachment, this consists of an improved laser sight that adds a bonus to strike, but the laser also creates a temporary ‘guidepath’ of disturbed/ionized air that slightly improves the striking power of the ion bolts. +2 to Strike, and +3 to damage per bolt. This can be used in conjunction with the other barrel attachments, but added damage is reduced to +2 MD. Critical damage is unaffected. Cost: 1,000 credits

*Ion Step-Down Module---This barrel attachment, rather than increase range or power, actually ‘steps down’ the power of ion bolts into the SDC range, and modulates their effect, making the weapon in effect a ‘super-taser’(albeit it with flash-burns). An added power regulation chip allows the weapon to use less power in SDC mode. CAN be used in conjunction with the the Laser Sight Module. Switching between MD/SDC modes takes 2 actions. Popular with urban security and police units. Critical damage does NOT apply, as the aim is to deliberately downscale damage.
Range:(SDC shots) 900 ft
Damage: 1d6 SDC shock-burn. Plus, victims must make a save of 14 or better, or be -8 to strike, parry, and dodge for 2d6 melees. A savings throw versus non-lethal poison means the person is unimpaired. 25% chance of knocking out unshielded cybernetics for 1d4 melees.
Payload: One MD shot equals 10 SDC shots
Cost: 4,000 credits

*Metalstorm Shotgun---Six-shot sequential storage/firing barrel slung under the main ion barrel.
Weight: +1.7 lbs
Range: Varies(see below)
Damage:(12 Gauge)
*Standard Shotgun shell--100 ft range, 5d6 SDC
*Standard Buckshot shell---100 ft range, 4d6 SDC to 5 ft area
*Teargas shell---100 ft range, 25 ft radius---victims are -10 to strike, parry, and dodge, -3 initiative, lose 1 melee attack/action, for the next 1d6+1 melees
*Baton shell---100 ft range, 2d6 SDC, plus humans and human-sized D-Bees must roll a D20 to maintain their footing (must equal or surpass the attacker's roll to strike...Full rules in TNW p.174).
*S-9Dex Incapacitation Munition ---100 ft range, Essentially a paper-shelled shotgun shell-sized gas-propelled 'cold rocket', packed full of taser beads. Beads powder on impact, reducing the chance of bystanders or ingoing police stepping on undischarged beads. Great for crowd control and dealing with closed-space situations(alleyways, rooms, vehicle interiors, etc...)
Effective Range: 100 feet, w/ 20 ft radius
Damage: Nil. Humanoids struck with this weapon must save vs. coma or be shocked unconscious for 1D6 minutes.
Cyborgs have a 60% chance of having their cybernetics disrupted for 1D10 minutes, and a 30% chance of a non-vital system being permanently shorted out.
*High Explosive Armor Piercing Shell---400 ft range, 6d6 MD(no blast radius)
*Mini-Grenade(plasma)--- 400 ft range, 5d6 MD to 5 ft blast radius
*Mini-Grenade II(Fragmentation)---400 ft range, 2d4 MD to 10 ft blast radius
*Standard HESH Shell---400 ft range, 2D4 M.D. plus 4D4 S.D.C. to the person(s) inside of EBA power/body armour & roll versus knockdown (14)
Rate of Fire: Single shot
Payload: 6
Cost: 1,800 credits
A box of 100 shotgun slug rds costs 60 credits
A box of 100 baton rds costs 45 credits
A box of 100 tear gas rds costs 80 credits
A box of 100 S-9Dex Incapacitation Munition rds costs 360 credits
A box of 100 Mini-Grenade rds costs 2,000 credits

*Metalstorm 40mm Grenade Launcher---4-shot sequential storage/firing barrel slung under the main ion barrel.
Weight: 2.8 lbs
Range: 1,200 ft
Damage: Frag rounds do 4d6 MD to a 12-foot radius.
AP rounds do 1d4x10 to a 3-foot blast radius.
Plasma rounds do 1d4x10+10 to a 5-foot radius.
Rate of Fire: Single shot, ECHH
Payload: 4 rds
Cost: 1,800 credits

*Metalstorm MTL02 Underbarrel Micro-Torpedo Launcher---3-shot sequential storage/firing barrel slung under the main ion barrel.
Weight: 2.2 lbs
Range: Varies by Micro-Torpedo type
(Pattern-MT1A)2,500 ft underwater, 500 ft in air
(Pattern-MT1B)2,500 ft underwater, 500 ft in air
(Pattern-MT1C)3,200 ft underwater, 700 ft in air
(Pattern-MT1D) 4,000 ft underwater, 900 ft in air
Damage: Varies by Micro-Torpedo type
(Pattern-MT1A)6d6 MD to 3 ft radius
(Pattern-MT1B) Screamer Round;Screamers are specialized one-use munitions that when fired, broadcast a massive burst of noise across all audio/sonic frequencies, with the intended effect of destroying acoustic target(sonar) locks, and allowing the sub/diver to escape opponents using sonar to detect or track them. -60% to track the sub via sonar while the Screamer is in effect, while sonar-guided weapons are -10 to strike .
Screamers also have the effect of stunning dolphins, whales, and other creatures using natural sonar and echo location. These creatures are disoriented/stunned for 1d4 melees.
A typical screamer will last 1d4 melees until it burns out or is destroyed.
Screamers can also be fused to ignite/activate anywhen up to a minute(4 melees) after deployment.
Effective radius of effect of the 18mm screamers is aproximately 1,000 ft
(Pattern-MT1C) Sonic Warhead---2d4 MD per blast to an 8 ft blast radius, 1d6x10 SDC to another 10 ft beyond that, Does only 1d4 MD to a 4 ft radius in air
Sonic weapons do HALF damage through light ‘soft’ armors like MDC barding and padded armor(such as wetsuits).
(Pattern-MT1D) 1d4x10 MD to 3 ft blast radius
Bonuses:(Pattern-MT1A) None; unguided
(Pattern-MT1B) None; unguided
(Pattern-MT1C) (+1 to strike in water. Micro-Homing Sonar Chip) Can also home in on a tracer beacon, and can track moving targets.
(Pattern-MT1D) (+3 to strike in water. Micro-Homing Sonar Chip)Can also home in on a tracer beacon, and can track moving targets.
Rate of Fire: Single shot per trigger pull
Payload: 3 MT1-series micro-torpedoes
Cost: 3,000 credits. Micro-torpedoes cost extra.
(Pattern-MT1A)250 credits
(Pattern-MT1B) 220 credits
(Pattern-MT1C) 360 credits
(Pattern-MT1D) 400 credits

Paladin Steel PSIR-14 “Vandegrift” Ion Assault Rifle
(aka ‘Grifgun’, ‘Van-slam’)
Cost: 42,000 credits
nice love it
N.A.A.T has 19 million credits to buy rifle what can we get out of this?

The Erinyes( of which the eyecatchingly dressed elf woman holding the PSIR-14 is a member) are an all-female mercenary agency/organization, which will be detailed in a future post.
They're essentially a theme-gang(the theme being 'sexy dangerous'), but with origins in Splugorth Atlantis. Many professional paramilitaries don't take them seriously, but considering that a good percentage of their three-hundred strong membership are bioborgs and Tattoo(wo)Men, they're not to be dismissed as 'suicide girls'.

Paladin Steel A-Theron Munitions
(aka ‘P-burners’, ‘GreenFire’, ‘Spook-bombs’)

“So you’re really a Prince of Hell? ‘Invulnerable to mere mortal weapons’? Oh goody! That means you’re definitely going to feel THIS!”

A-Theron Munitions(ATherMs) are disposable one-shot area of effect magic disruption weapons that use the same principle as that in the Anti-Theron blasters. ATherMs are packed with a gel-suspension containing dormant bacteria spliced with select DNA from such anti-magic beings as nega-psychics. When fired/deployed, the warhead acts like a Fuel Air Explosive; a propulsive charge disperses the rapidly evaporating gel into an aerosol cloud, at the same time triggering a catalyst into the bacterial spores that activates them into a short, but energetic, life. The resulting explosion takes the form of a brightly glowing/burning green fog that radiates magic disruptive energies within.
The warhead itself does little actual damage; the disperal charge is equivalent to a flash-bang(though the larger weapons will do some MD damage to anybody in the blast radius), but for supernatural beings caught in the cloud, the effects can be devastating and agonizing as their paranormal energies are disrupted.
These weapons are exclusive to PS/GNE and their issuance is strictly regulated, as PS doesn’t want to alienate their mage and supernatural allies/associates, nor do they wish the weapons’ secrets to be reverse-engineered.

Damage: Varies according to the weapon type, but ALL anti-Theron weapons use the following guidelines
Depending on how much PPE is present and how essential it is to an organism’s survival, damage varies:
Techno-Wizardry Devices(including TW generators), enchanted objects, rune weapons, and other magically-infused(but INANIMATE) objects are NOT affected and take no damage.
Non-magical beings. psychics, and ‘mundanes’ are unaffected and experience nothing aside from a slight tingling sensation, mild sunburn-like symptoms, and a passing feeling of nausea from a Disruptor strike.
Magic Users and other beings who have ‘learned’ or artificially acquired magical abilities(including tattoos and implants), but who can otherwise survive without magic present are affected, but the effects aren’t as dramatic. They do NOT get a save versus the disruption because all of their effort has gone into OPENING themselves to the supernatural and embracing their magical potential.
Supernatural Creatures who possess some small measure of magical ability will suffer a greater degree of damage/injury. ...normal damage x1.5. Gargoyles, Brodkil, Lycanthropes, Shapeshifters(including Nightspawn), Possessees, Shifters, and Witches, are all examples of beings in this category. Note that if these beings were to possess bionics or other conditions that NEGATE their magical abilities(like Brodkil bionics) they lose this vulnerability, and are NOT affected, taking damage only as normal. These beings do NOT get a saving roll versus the PPE disruption.
‘High’ Supernatural Beings with a high level of, and reliance on, PPE will suffer greatly, taking DOUBLE damage. This includes Dragons, Angels, Demons, Splugorth, Faerie Folk, and Demi-Gods. However, these beings DO get a roll to SAVE versus their own PPE backfiring on them. A successful roll to save HALVES the damage done to them.
Creatures of Pure Magic that cannot survive without magic are the most seriously affected, and take TRIPLE damage. This covers ghosts, possessing entities, Undead, Elemental Beings, Alien Intelligences, and god-beings. However, these beings DO get a roll to SAVE versus their own PPE backfiring on them. A successful roll to save HALVES the damage done to them.
Golems, Iron Juggernauts, and other magically-powered automatons/automations will be effectively STUNNED, being paralyzed for 1d4 melees per shot, and will be unable to move or defend themselves, as magical energy shorts out and storms over them.

Other Effects:
*Magic Disruption----Each blast NEUTRALIZES HALF the number of PPE points that it does damage...these points are temporarily lost to the magic user/creature until it can regain them normally(by rest or drawing on other sources).
*Magical Forcefields take 1.5 normal damage.
*Invisible beings will be revealed by an anti-theron burst and will remain visible for 2d4 melees(gradually fading) as a result of residual anti-therons causing them to flouresce and become visible to the naked eye.


MicroGrenade: 2d4 HP/MDC damage(based on what the creature is) to 2 ft radius

Hand Grenade:(30-40mm) 5d6 HP/MDC damage(based on what the creature is) to 8 ft radius. The dispersal charge does 1d6 SDC.

Rifle Grenade: (40mm) 6d6 HP/MDC damage(based on what the creature is) to 12 ft radius. The dispersal charge does 1d6 SDC.

MicroMissile: 2d6 HP/MDC damage(based on what the creature is) to 3 ft radius. The dispersal charge does 1d4 SDC.

Mini-Missile: 1d4x10 HP/MDC damage(based on what the creature is) to 15 ft radius. The dispersal charge does 6d6 SDC.

Short Range Missile: 2d4x10 HP/MDC damage(based on what the creature is) to 20 ft radius. The dispersal charge does 1d4 MD.

Medium Range Missile: 4d6x10 HP/MDC damage(based on what the creature is) to 40 ft radius. The dispersal charge does 1d6 MD.

Long Range Missile: 1d6x100 HP/MDC damage(based on what the creature is) to 60 ft radius. The dispersal charge does 2d4 MD.


Cost: EXCLUSIVE to PS/GNE.

holy cow
this is really good stuff!!!!!
N1!!!!!!

Technology Report: Rifts Earth, Sub-Shadow 11i5625121(ZOTPANTHEONINTERV)
Date: 232/23943/34502384

While Paladin Steel has eagerly and enthusiastically pillaged the North American past and present for ideas and designs for its various vehicles, and of recent via its relationship with Farnborough Aviation, done several British designs as well, of late, the recent development of at least three aircraft types of pre-Rifts RUSSIAN design origin raises interest. Though these aircraft, as ultimately realized, differ from their original designs owing to differing technologies and additional/altered roles, the similarities between them and known(and not so well-known) historical designs poses some questions. Though Paladin Steel interoffice memos admit that the basis of the new aircraft ARE Russian inorigin, they do not TELL how they got ahold of enough information on the originals, at least enough to proceed ahead with hardware development, which, even for an extant corporation such as Paladin Steel with rapid prototyping and mass production capabilities, remains an expensive undertaking.
This leads us to consider the following possibilities:
*Domestic Intelligence Source---This postulates that Paladin Steel heritage scouting expeditions have found sufficient data in pre-Rifts ruins, possibly intact examples of the aircraft in question. While this may be the case for older pre-/early Golden Age aircraft, this seems unlikely, however, in the case of the more modern and larger Russian aircraft. While it is possible that such aircraft as the T-517 may have been imported by private aircraft enthuasiasts, such aircraft were unlikely to have been fortuitously stowed in advanced heavy bunkerage to have survived the Coming of the Rifts. The few data centers likely to HAVE comprehensive data on such aircraft, such as the NASM, have been destroyed or looted early on.
*Data Exchange---Data exchange with foreign sources such the Farnborough Aviation Archive are another possible source of design data. Certainly, the FAA was competing pre-Rifts with the North American NASM as THE comprehensive collection of historical aviation data, and that certainly helped with such joint programs as the new Vulcan and Covent bombers, but given the geopolitical situation at the time of the Coming of the Rifts, it seems unlikely that Russian aviation firms would have shared proprietary company design information so freely with their British competition.
*ExtraDimensional Contact----This postulates that Paladin Steel has had contact with extra-dimensional examples of the technology, either through D-Shifted and -stranded examples of the aircraft coming to grief on Rifts Earth, or via contact with alternate world-lines where the aircraft were fully developed and deployed. The former seems unlikely, as three designs being developed concurrently from multiple strandings that PS just HAPPENED to find is statistically unlikely. The latter is possible, but such suggests that PS’s OutDimension exploration and colonization program has spread farther than we suspect.
*Personal Contacts---Contact with immigrants or explorers from the Russian territories is another possibility. Given the recent renewed interest in traditional aviation sweeping the Russian territories in the shadow of the Arzhur invasion, it’s possible that the Warlords and the Sovietski have been doing the same as PS and plumbing their own histories for designs, and that rogue scholars or engineers with access to that revived design data may have defected to territories outside Russia, such as the NGR or farther, bringing that knowledge with them.
*Direct Alliance and Technology Exchange with One or More Russian Factions----PS/GNE’s expeditions to Russia, by most available accounts, have been fraught with risk and at last public announcement, while some contact had been made, several expeditions had also been lost. If indeed, the recent spate of Russian-inspired designs are the result of trade and technology exchanges, it suggests a more profound and solid agreement with one or more of the factions, especially if PS means specifically to market these aircraft back to the Russians. Given the distances and logistical difficulties involved in trading with the Russian factions, this would represent a major investment in time and material if PS is actively trading on a large scale with them with regular contact. While trade with the aviation-minded Kolodenko, the ambitious and fairly liberal minded Warlord Romanov or the technocratic Sovietski would be the most ideal arrangement, difficulties with reaching the former and possible traditional mistrust of Americans in the latter may preclude such. Also, given the recent interest on the part of Warlord Seriyev in indigenous aircraft design, we cannot discount the possibility of a trade agreement between the GNE and the Seriyev camp. Another possibility, albeit a slim one, is some sort of exchange with Warlord Burgasov as a means of securing safe trade lanes through Burgasov territory. However, this is at best a remote chance, as Burgasov would likely charge heavily for his cooperation with outsiders and would be very unlikely to share technical knowledge, even pre-Rifts data his own people aren’t using, with outside powers.

Investigations may go far in solving the question of PS’s recent interest in foreign designs. However, such investigations must take a backburner to more pressing matters, such as monitoring the situation in Splynn and the Mexican Kingdoms, so resource allocation must be prioritized accordingly. As much as I’d like to take a d-probe trawling through PS’s office cabinets, we’ll just have to be satisfied with stepping up our humint infiltration of Paladin Steel’s facilities, and likewise for the FAA and Russian domains. I would also suggest distributing ID infomation on PS and Rifts Earth to our agents in the relevant 21st C Sov/Rhodina sectors where we know these designs have progressed beyond the speculative stage, just in case PS’s expeditions have penetrated that far. Maybe we’ll be able to gather enough evidence either way to shed a better light on this recent trend.
----Dimensional Monitor Agrhan Muutsumal, Interdim.



Paladin Steel S-175 Kittiwake Light Aircraft
(aka ‘Lepi’, ‘Kitti’)
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/T-411.jpg

“You get a beautiful view of the land from under a Kitti...problem is, the gargoyles and dragons have learned to attack from above, where the wing gets in the way of your field of view. Happened to me once; I took the plane down into the ground and was able to bounce the pilot pod free and take off on the ski mobile treads fast enough that I surprised my attacker and was able to escape, but I’ve heard other pilots haven’t been so lucky.”

“You appreciate the extra armor on these birds when you’re spraying for bullet-beetles. Damn little monsters wil take off in a swarm if you disturb them while feeding, and they accelerate from zero to goddamn fast in next to nothing. They hit like beebees, and you get enough of them, they can kill a farmer who ain’t protected, or punch through anything less than battle-plate. And they can eat a field to scratch in a day. Fortunately, they die real fast when you spray them with the more common pesticides, but getting close enough to them to do so’s the problem. The Kitti rings like a snare drum what with all the love taps a swarm’s giving it, but the armor holds right, the engine keeps working, and it only takes two or three passes to break the swarm if you know your spray pattern. “

This light aircraft appears based on the Grunin/Khrunichev T-517 “Farmer”, an agricultural light plane(or ‘heavylight’) originally developed with light strike in mind, but changed over to crop spraying. However, Paladin Steel seems to have adapted the design along the same lines as their S-38 ‘Scaup’ flying boat design.
Both designs share a common configuration; a passenger pod/fuselage slung under a minimalist airframe supporting the wings, tail, and engine. The single engine is mounted directly above and in front of the passenger pod, at the front middle of the wing, with the tail boom projecting directly back to the tail control surfaces.
Paladin Steel has adapted many of the same features of the S-38 to the Kittiwake, including a solar-electric wing, and the ability of the passenger compartment to fully detach from the wing airframe to serve as a separate vehicle, with the option of the pod being able to operate as a boat or armed ski mobile. The wing can be left at the landing zone to be re-attached and recovered later, or it can be sent back aloft to act as a remote control surveillance/communications drone.
The Kittiwake is not designed as a dedicated combat aircraft, but like nearly all Rifts Earth-made vehicles, it’s designed to survive harsh conditions, including light weapons fire, and can be fitted with light weaponry.
The Kittiwake is being marketed as a ‘brush flier’ for smaller communities as a courier and scout, or as a portable shipboard aerodyne.

Type: PS-S-175 Kittiwake
Class: Light Aircraft
Crew: 1, plus 1 passenger
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body/Crew Compartment 100
Main Engine 100
Wings(2) 90 each
Tail 70
Height: 3.34 m (11.02 ft)
Width: 13.46 m ( 44.4 ft)
Length: 9.2m ( 30.36 ft)
Weight: 1650 kg empty, 3450 kg loaded( 3,630 lbs/7,590 lbs)
Cargo: 1200 kg( 2,640 lbs), or 1600 kg( 3,520 lbs), but reduce maximum range by 1/3.
Powerplant: Liquid Fuel(w/500 mile range), Electric(w/550 mile range), or TW(w/ 10 year energy life)
Speed: (Flying) 100 MPH, maximum altitude of 9,300 ft.

Note: The TW-powered version can hit speeds of 220 MPH, maximum altitude of 500 ft, when on a ley line. Can also fly indefinitely when on a ley line.

Market Cost: 230,000 credits for Liquid Fuel, 245,0000 credits for Electric, 5.5 million credits for TW
Systems of Note:
Standard Aircraft Systems, plus:
*Solar Electric Wing---The dorsal surface of the high-wing is fitted with solar panels, and the powerplants supplanted/complemented with a Super-Solar Power System. Flying in broad daylight, mostly unobstructed sunlight gives the batteries an 8-hour charge; cloudy and overcast days cut available power to three hours.

*Wing Drone---The detached upper wing section can be piloted by remote control or can fly on its own drone autopilot. The drone can also be engaged by the cabin crew to act as an autopilot, allowing the crew to rest(or recover, if injured) on long flights.
-Basic Robot Audio/Optics
-Basic Power Armor-Grade Sensor and Communications Systems
-Radio Beacon/Signal Finder
-Navigation: 85%
Bonuses: The UAV doesn’t have any combat programming per say, but does have some basic evasion programming: Actions/Attacks Per Melee: 4, Dodge: +2

Weapons Systems: None standard

Options:
*Boat Pod---A two person speedboat pod can be mounted in place of the normal passenger fuselage, and can be detached to operate separately.
MDC: 100
Passenger Capacity: 2(pilot+ passenger)
Cargo: If not carrying a passenger in the rear seat, can carry 300 lbs of gear.
Powerplant: Liquid Fuel(w/ 200 mile range), Electric(w/250 mile range)(can recharge off the solar wing), or TW(w/ 10 year energy life)
Speed: 60 MPH on water
Weapons Systems:
1) Nose Mounted Light Weapons(1-2)---Identical to those available to hovercycles:
a) Lasers
Range: 1,000 ft
Damage: 2d6 MD per shot, 6d6 MD pulse burst
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: 150 shot battery. Effectively Unlimited if nuclear powered
Cost: 18,000 credits

b) Ion Blasters
Range: 600 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD single shot, 6d6 MD pulse burst
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: 100 shot battery. Effectively Unlimited if nuclear powered
Cost: 18,000 credits

c) Cyborg Machine Gun
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage:(SDC) 1d6x10 SDC per 10 rd burst
(MD) 1 MD single rd, 2d4 MD per 10 rd burst
(PSX-2) 1d4 MD per rd, 1d4x10 MD per 10 rd burst.
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload:300 rd drum
Cost: 18,000 credits

d) MicroMissile Launcher(s)----12 shot pod. Cost: 15,000 credits for the launcher

e)PS-RL-210 Fragmentation Rocket Launcher( a copy of an imported Russian design). Note that PS has also been experimenting with an incendiary variant using a magnesium mixture.
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 1d6 single projectile, 1d6x10 MD per 10 rd burst/volley
at 3,500 ft, the rds go ‘grapeshot’, doing 3d6 MD(1 MD for a single shot) in a 12 ft wide area.
(Incendiary “Hot-Grape” Version)---Do an additional +2 MD per rd, and 1 MD of damage for 1d4 melees as the flare portion burns down.
Rate of Fire: EGCHH, Volleys of 1-8
Payload: 8 shots per launcher
Cost: 8,000 credits

f)PS-DL-110L Razor-Frizzer( a cut-down copy of an imported Russian design). The PS version uses ceramic and light alloy discs that, either by accident or deliberate design, give off a very audible high-pitched shrieking or buzzing noise when fired.
Range: 1,000 ft
Damage: 1d6 single projectile, 1d6x10 MD per 10 rd burst/volley
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 20 shots per launcher
Cost: 9,000 credits

g)PSAGL-23C 23mm Micro-Grenade Launcher
Weight: 6 lbs
Range: 280 ft
Damage: (High Explosive)2d4 MD to a 10 ft area
A 5 rd burst does 1d4x10 MD to an 15 ft area
(Incendiary)---A slug of thermal gel that does 1d6 MD to a 12 ft splash, and an additional 1d4 MD per melee for 1d6 melees
(Flare) Burns with blinding incandesence for 1d6 melees, each round brightly illuminating an area roughly 100 ft in radius. These are NOT parachute flares, but fall normally.
Rate of Fire: ECHH; single shot or 5 round burst
Payload: 25 shot drum
Cost: 9,000 credits. HE Shells cost 400 each, incendiary 450 each, and flare rounds 30 each.


2) Lateral Weapons Stations(1-2)---If not carrying a passenger, the rear seat can be modified to accommodate two fold-out weapons stations for light weapons. These weapons can ONLY be deployed when the vehicle is detached from the wing.
a) 40mm Grenade Launcher
Range:7,000 ft
Damage: (Fragmentation) 4d6 MD to blast area of 12 ft
2d6x10 MD to blast area of 40 ft w/ 10-rd burst
(Armor Piercing) 1d4x10 MD to blast area of 3 ft
3d6x10 MD to blast area of 8 ft w/ 10-rd burst
Rate of Fire: Standard
Payload: 50 rds
Cost: 50,000 credits
b) MicroMissile Launcher---25 shot box cassette per station
c) Mini-Missile Launcher---4 per station
d) Rapid-Fire Machine Gun---Identical to the nose-mounted weapon, only double the payload.
e) Light Autocannon
Range:(20mm)3,000 ft (1500 ft for wood rounds)
Damage:(20mm) 1d4 MD per shell
4d6 MD per 5 rd burst
1d4x10+4 MD per 10 rd burst
Airburst does 1d4 MD to 2 ft blast radius(single shot)
(20mm PS-1) 4d4 MD single rd
1d6x10 MD per 5 rd burst
Airburst does 4d4 MD to 2 ft blast radius
(Wood Rounds) 6d6 SDC per round (1d6x10 HP to vampires)
4d6 MD per 5 rd burst
1d4x10+4 MD per 10 rd burst
Airbursts are not possible with wooden rounds

(20mm PSX-2)(after 110 PA)
4d6 MD single rd
2d6x10 MD per 5 rd burst
Airburst does 4d6 MD to 6 ft blast radius

Rate of Fire: (20mm)Standard.

Payload: 200 rds,
Cost: 20,000 credits
A box of 100 20 mm ‘smart’ rds costs 800 credits
A box of 100 20 mm ‘smart’ PSX-1 rds costs 3000 credits(after 110 PA, this drops to 2,000 credits)
A box of 100 20 mm ‘smart’ PSX-2 rds costs 3200 credits

f) PS-RL-210 Fragmentation Rocket Launcher---Identical to the nose-mounted weapon, only double the payload.
g) Light Pulse Laser---Identical to the nose-mounted weapon, only double the payload.
h) Light Ion Blaster---Identical to the nose-mounted weapon, only double the payload.
i) PS-DL-110L Razor-Frizzer---Identical to the nose-mounted weapon, only double the payload.
j)PSAGL-23C 23mm Micro-Grenade Launcher---Identical to the nose-mounted weapon, only double the payload.
k) Light Rail Gun(PS-RFG202)
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 1 MD single rd, 3d6 MD per 15 rd burst, 6d6 MD per 30 rd burst.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 9,000 rd drum per cannon
Cost: 75,000 credits
m) Micro-Torpedo Launcher-----20 shot box cassette per station
n) Mini-Torpedo Launcher---4 per station
o) Short Range Torpedo---1 per station


Cost: 50,000 credits for Liquid Fuel, 55,0000 credits for Electric, 1.5 million credits for TW. The vehicle pod is also sold separately by Paladin Steel as its own vehicle.

*Ski Mobile Pod---A two person speedboat pod can be mounted in place of the normal passenger fuselage, and can be detached to operate separately.
MDC: 100
Passenger Capacity: 2(pilot+ passenger)
Cargo: If not carrying a passenger in the rear seat, can carry 300 lbs of gear.
Powerplant: Liquid Fuel(w/250 mile range), Electric(w/ 300 mile range)(can recharge off the solar wing), or TW(w/ 10 year energy life)
Speed: 100 MPH on land
Weapons Systems:
1) Nose Mounted Light Weapons(1-2)---Identical to those available to hovercycles. Identical to those available for the speedboat pod above.
2) Lateral Weapons Stations(1-2)---If not carrying a passenger, the rear seat can be modified to accommodate two fold-out weapons stations for light weapons. These weapons can ONLY be deployed when the vehicle is detached from the wing.
Identical those available to the ski-pod(above) with the following exceptions:
m) Copperhead AT Missiles
Range: 1 mile
Damage: Armor-piercing:2d4x10 MD, no blast radius
Rate of Fire:Volleys of 1,2,3, 4, or 6
Payload: 4
Bonuses: +5 to strike
Cost: 200,000 credits


Cost: 47,000 credits for Liquid Fuel, 50,0000 credits for Electric, 1.4 million credits for TW. The vehicle pod is also sold separately by Paladin Steel as its own vehicle.


*Pontoons---Allow for landing on water and, in the case of the speedboat pod, direct deployment to water(otherwise the aircraft would have to land on the shore or drop the boat directly into the water while flying on autopilot).
MDC per Pontoon: 40 each
Cost: 40,000 credits for a set

*Skis---Allows for safer operations on ice and snow.
Cost: 8,000 credits for a set

*Weapons Hardpoints(4, two on the pod, one under each wing)----Up to four light weapons mounts can be added to the Kittiwake. The underwing hardpoints are typically dedicated to missile and bomb ordnance, while the passenger pod hardpoints are used to mount guns.
a) Micro-Missiles(15mm-20mm)----25 shot pod per hardpoint
(30mm)----10 shot pod per hardpoint
b)Mini-Missiles---2 per hardpoint
c) L-SAM Black Talon Missiles
Range: 3 miles
Damage: 3d4x10 MD to 40 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-2(all)
Payload: 2 per launcher
Bonus: +5 to strike, and gets TWO attempts to strike the target(agile enough to loop back on a target and try again)
d) Bombs---Can carry a 100-lb Bomb per hardpoint----1d6x10 MD to 40 ft blast radius, or two mini--bombs, each equivalent to a mini-missile, only DOUBLE the blast radius.
e) Flare/Chaff Pod
Range: Close Defense
Damage: None; similar to Triax-style chaff
01-50 Enemy Missile or volley detonates in chaff and threat is neutralized
51-75 Missile/Volley diverts and may pursue/lock on to other targets
76-00 No Effect! Missile(s) still on target!
Will also temporarily blind and impede flying monsters who fly into it.
Reduce APMs/combat bonuses/ speed by half for 1d4 melees
Payload: 6 per launcher

f)Recon Pod----Exact sensors vary, but can include wide-angle cameras, nightvision optics, terrain-mapping radar, molecular analyzers, magnetometers, laser scanners/illuminators(5 mile range), and the like. Generally one type of sensor per pod.

g) Searchlight Pod---Directable searchlight: 9,000 ft range

h).50 caliber Gunpod---Combines a fifty-caliber heavy machine gun and ramjet amunnition with a four-shot mini-missile launcher
Range:(Machine Gun) 19,000 ft, 38,000 ft in space
(Kitsune Values: 380 miles in space)
(Mini-Missiles) Varies by Missile Type(x4 in space)
(Kitsune Values: 100 miles in space)
Damage:(Machine Gun)(SDC rd) 7d6 SDC per single rd, 2d6x10+20 SDC per 40 rd burst
(Ramjet rd) 1d4 MD per single rd, 5d6 MD per 40 rd burst
(Mini-Missiles)Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire:(Machine Gun) ECHH
(Mini-Missiles) Volleys of 1,2,3, or 4(all)
Payload:(Machine Gun)2,000 rds(50 bursts)
(Mini-Missiles) 4
Cost: 60,000 credits

i) Mk 24 Illumination Flare Launcher---These are large parachute flares, dropped from altitude. They can drift down for 1d4 minutes, and can illuminate a roughly quarter-mile radius nearly bright as day. 6 are carried per pod, ready to drop. Globe of Daylight flares can be substituted for anti-vampire actions.
Cost: Basic Launcher Unit costs 2,000 credits. Flares cost 120 credits each


*Sprayer Conversion---Uses both wing hardpoints and no passenger can be carried. A reservoir behind the pilot feeds into two sprayer bars slung under the wings.
Range: Depending on wind and altitude, the helicopter can spray a 100 foot wide swath at maximum dispersal.
Damage: Varies by chemical type. If using water, typically does 4d6 HP to vampires(‘Bless the tank, Holy Father!”).
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 100 gallons
Cost: 10,000 credits



Variants:
*PS-HC-06TW---Technowizardry variant.

Fort Stratos
(aka ‘War-rock’, ‘Waroid’, ‘War-moon’, ‘Astro-Spud’)

http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/img261.jpg

“Takes a little getting used to, the gravity situation on Fort Stratos. See, the sky-monkeys who used to own the place gimmicked their gravity drive so that ‘down’ is towards the center of the metal-rock, and ‘up’ is away, so you can literally walk upside down on the underside of the thing when it’s floating in atmosphere and not feel a thing. That is, until you look up and see the Alaskan wilderness floating up two miles over your head, see a flock of birds flying upside down over you, and you suddenly realize that’s EARTH looming up over you. We have a lot of workers come down with sudden vertigo sickness, cobble-wobbles, and acrophobia attacks the first couple of weeks of new work shifts, and pretty much EVERYBODY going near the upper decks carries a parachute, jet pack, or personal levitation charm just in case the monkey-grav cuts out unexpectedly.”

Fort Stratos is a former Gorang Iron Island that had been involved in raids along the American West Coast, until GNE/Alliance forces were able to track the Gorang pirates back to their airborne lair, then board and capture it at no small expense in blood. The ‘ship’ was subsequently seized as a prize of war and pressed into the service of the Alliance.
Fort Stratos was originally a middling-size nickel-iron asteroid, roughly cylindrical in shape, a little over a mile long on the long axis, that has been converted into a gravitic-drive-propelled flying fortress by the Gorang. Able to float effortlessly on its fuel-less gravitic propulsion in either space or atmosphere, the Iron Island served as a heavy transport and mobile staging area fro Gorang air-pirates and slavers. Since its takeover by the GNE/Alliance, the massive vehicle/spacestation/flying base has become one of PS/GNE’s larger individual assets, and arguably the closest thing to date the GNE military has to a space-going dreadnought.
While PS and the GNE seek to unlock the alien fortress’s many secrets, including its FTL/interdimensional drive, the Iron Island has been kept moving around PS/Alliance northern territories, to keep any enemies from locating precisely where it is. Ironically, confusion with reports of other ‘floating cities’, such as the Lemurians’, has played in PS’s favor, helping to divert any serious interest in investigating reports of the giant complex/vessel.
Fort Stratos has served as a mobile weapons and systemry test platform, and as a base for probes of various phenomena in the upper atmosphere. Fort Stratos now looks significantly different from its original configuration; PS has been steadily refiting the Iron Island, upgrading its defenses, and rebuilding its superstructure with more modern and powerful equipment, as soon as they figure out that removing or altering such features does not impede the Iron Island’s more unique and exotic capabilities. As a result, Fort Stratos mounts more firepower than other Iron Islands of its size. It also mounts variable forcefields, a recent addition using generators imported from the Three Galaxies. After understanding the alien systems, the biggest problem with converting the massive asteroid ship was removing the giant exterior icons that identified the ownership of the Gorang Gurocha-Reaper clan and replacing them with the Sword, Helmet, and Tree iconography of Paladin Steel and Greater New England.
PS/GNE refuses to divulge how much of the Gorang technology and magic they’ve actually managed to reverse-engineer and duplicate, but the growing number of refit ‘Golden Warbirds’ outfitted with Gorang -style gravitic drives suggests that PS has made several breakthroughs. Another possible sign are the rumors of either/both Valiant Station and the Amberjin facilities doing modification work to select nickle-iron asteroids maneuvered near their orbital facilities.
Type: Fort Stratos (Former Iron Island)(CGBB-01)
Class: Floating Fortress/Asteroid Ship
Crew: 6,000, plus provision for up to 5,000 troops/passengers (Curremtly it plays host to a battalion of paratroopers and several companies of Stelmarines aboard the fortress as security).
Fort Stratos also has a contingent of 3,000 humanoid work robots.
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body/Asteroid 320,000*
Internal Main Residency Blocs(22) 6,000 each
Heavy Cannon Turrets(12) 700 each
Heavy Massdriver Turrets(18 ) 500 each
Heavy Particle Beam Cannon(2) 1,000 each
Heavy Laser Cannon(12) 700 each
Medium Laser Turrets(12) 500 each
Long Range Missile Launchers(8) 550 each
Medium Range Missile Launchers(16) 400 each
Mini-Missile Launchers(25) 100 each
Point Defense Turrets (60) 80 each
Multiplexor Turrets(6) 500 each
Rocket Stacks (20) 200-400 each
Factory Sheds(16) 1,000 each
Sensor Dishes(8 ) 400 each
Skycranes(6) 500 each
Hangar Bays (3) 2,000 each
**(Variable Forcefield) 3,500 each side(21,000 total)

*This is the nickel-iron and rock bulk of the former asteroid, and takes DOUBLE damage from kinetic weapons, such as rail guns and explosive missiles

**Shield Refresh Rate is 5% per melee

Size: 3,800 ft in diameter. 1.3 miles long
Weight: 860 million tons
Cargo: 7 million tons
Powerplant: Combination Nuclear Fusion/TechnoWizardry Power Generators
Supplemental power provided by solar arrays.
In addition to the gravitic propulsion (presumably centered somewhere at the core of the former asteroid), Fort Stratos can use several ‘rocket stacks’(actually large fusion plasma thrusters) for gross physical course corrections.
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to 300 MPH; no altitude limitation(transatmospheric)
(Sublight) Can accelerate at up to 0.8 gees/Mach 8
(Kitsune Values) 60% of light speed, and can accelerate/decelerate at 0.8% of light speed per melee
(FTL) Typically can muddle along at 1 lightyear an hour, and maintain this pace for up to 12+1d4 hours before needing to drop out and recharge for 2d4 hours
Also has the ability to move inter-dimensionally, via Rift-Drive.


Systems of Note:
*Full Sensor Suite---Specialized sensor pallets include radiation detectors and counters, spectrographic analysis devices, gravitic sensors, electromagnetic activity readers, and optics packages.
*Long Range Radar---Phased Array Search and Early Warning Radars---Maximum Resolution Range of 300,000 miles(about 500 miles in atmosphere).
*Laser Targeting-------100,000 miles(about 50 miles in atmosphere)
*Communications Suite:---Long Range Radio and Video---Typical range of 200-500 miles in atmosphere(x1,000 in space)
*Optical Tracking Clusters----The equivalent of automated telescopes and binoculars, these systems are constantly scanning the surrounding area(and in space, the starscape), using advanced pattern-recognition software to look for anomalies(objects and phenomena), as well as helping to fix the asteroid-cruiser’s position.

*Onboard Life Support Plant, Factories(originally powered by slave labor; PS has since replaced the onboard factories with automated autofacs), Hangar Space, Living Quarters, Repair and Assembly Shops, Warehousing, and Engineering Laboratories. The onboard facilities, supplied with materials, can produce spare parts and ammunition for the onboard complement of troops and aerospacecraft, and can do limited prototyping and small-batching production of vehicles.

*Skycranes(6) ---These are massive multi-jointed lifting apparatuses used for loading cargos in-atmosphere that are too big to be carried aboard by a lighter. Because of the peculiar nature of the gravitic field surrounding the asteroid-ship, the skycrane is a giant jointed arm that positions a lifting cradle or lift-head that uses its own gravitic drive(or, in the case of the less wealthy Gorang clans, JATO pods) to lift out of the ship’s own gravitic field until the planet’s gravity can take over. Then the crane reels out up to a mile of heavy cable to the surface, where the lift cradle picks up whatever needs to be lifted. Once the cargo is lifted back to the edge of the asteroid-ship’s gravitic field, the crane arm reverses orientation and works like a conventional crane to lower the payload to the surface of the asteroid.
The six skycranes on Fort Stratos have over 5,000 ft of cable and a lifting capacity of 400 tons each.

*Radar Jamming---These are recently added brute-force broad-spectrum jammers that rely on sheer power to block out radar and radio. When in full operation, anybody with radar systems is going to KNOW that there’s a big cloud of static out there, just not the WHO, WHAT and WHERE. This system has thus far only been used on occasion to jam long range Coalition States radar from spotting Fort Stratos on its closest approaches to the ‘lower forty-nine’ region of North America.
Communications Jamming has a 5,000 mile range, is 95% effective against civilian systems, and is 75% effective against more sophisticated channel-jumping military communications suites. Missiles and sensor-guided weapons are -6 to strike.

Weapons Systems:
1)Heavy Projectile Cannons(6; 2x3)---These are massive battleship guns (12 inch or better) firing huge exploding or armor piercing shells, and typically mounted in dual or triple-gun turrets. The original Gorang weapons have been removed and replaced by more modern PS-manufactured 450mm massdriver types.
Range: 25 miles in atmosphere, 70 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 70 miles in atmosphere, 70,000 miles in space)
Damage:(Kinetic Penetrator) 3d6x100 MD to 15 ft radius
(Multi-Munition Fragmentor) 3d6x10 MD to 300 ft radius
(Heavy Plasma) 2d6x100 MD to 150 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: Three times per melee
Payload: 200 shells per cannon. Additional shells may be stored in the cargo holds and reloaded within 30 minutes(3 shells per ton of cargo)
Penalty: -5 to strike fighter-sized targets

2) Heavy Kinetic Cannon(18, 3x6)---These are heavy-duty triple-barrel rail cannon mounts from PS’s Orbital warship programs.
Range: 10 miles(40 miles in space)
(Kitsune Values: 40 miles in atmosphere/ 40,000 miles in space)
Damage:1d4x100 MD per 80 rd burst, 2d4x100 MD double cannon burst, 3d4x100 MD per triple cannon burst
Rate of Fire:ECHH
Payload: 32,000 rds(400 bursts) per cannon before needing reloading from stores(takes about 15 minutes)

3) Heavy Particle Beam Cannon(2)---The most powerful energy weapons on Fort Stratos are these recently-installed heavy particle beam cannons. These installations are secret even to most of the crew(who know them only as ‘high energy test platforms’) and the weapons have NOT been fired in Rifts Earth’s atmosphere.
Range: 10 miles in atmosphere, 40 miles in space)
(Kitsune Values: 40 miles in atmosphere/ 40,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x1,000 MD per salvo
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited

4)Heavy Laser Cannon(12; 3x4)
Note: These weapons typically fire in salvos of three(all three guns in a turret firing simultaneously)
Range:16 miles in atmosphere, 1,600 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)16 miles in atmosphere, 16,000 miles in space
Damage: 2d6x100 MD per blast. 6d6x100 MD for a triple burst
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited

5) Medium Laser Turrets(12)----These are simply laser turrets from the existing Javelin/Assegai production lines, mounted on the asteroid-ship.
Range: 7 miles in atmosphere, 14 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 14 miles in atmosphere, 14,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x100 MD per single blast, 4d4x100 double-barreled blast
Rate of Fire: 4 times per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

6) Point Defense Light Cannon(60)---Gorang ships typically carry dozens of lighter cannons; 20-40mm rapid fire projectile weapons used for close-in defense and flak, as well as to give the recruits and non-pilots something to bang away with. Iron Islands typically have veritable forests of these low-cost weapons to fend off fighters and missile attacks.
Fort Stratos replaces the Gorang weapons with a mix of 40mm rapid fire rail- and auto-cannons and point defense lasers.
a) 40mm Rapid-Fire Guns(mounted in 2-4 gun mounts)
Range: 2.6 miles in atmosphere, 6 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2.6 miles in atmosphere, 2,600 miles in space)
Damage:(Proximity Fuzed Fragmentation) 3d6 MD to 15 ft blast radius
(Armor Piercing Tracer) 5d6 MD single shot
(High Explosive Tracer) 4d6 MD to 10 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: EPCHH, typically in bursts of 5-10 rounds. Six attacks per melee in automated mode
Payload: Effectively Unlimited; large ammunition supplies.
Radar Targeting Bonus: +3 to strike

b)Laser PDS
Range: 1 mile in atmosphere,4 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 4 miles in atmosphere, 400 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH, six attacks per melee in automated mode
Payload: Effectively unlimited
Radar Targeting Bonus: +4 to strike

7) Long Range Missile Launchers(8 )---These are massive launch cell arrays(many of them adapted from Javelin systems), and about half of them mounted inside refitted Gorang ‘missile stack’ casemates.
Range:Varies by missile type(speed and range x4 in space)
(Kitsune Values: 3,400 miles in atmosphere, 1,800,000 miles in space)
Damage:Varies by missile type
Rate of Fire:From 1-32 missiles can be fired in one volley
Payload: 160 LRMs per launcher-pod. Additional missiles may be stored in the cargo holds and reloaded within 30 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 12 missiles)

8 ) Medium Range Missile Launchers(16)---These are either trainable box-launchers or Vertical Launch System cells for medium range missiles.
Range:Varies by missile type(speed and range x4 in space)
(Kitsune Values: 160 miles in atmosphere, 80,000 miles in space)
Damage:Varies by missile type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-10 missiles
Payload: 270 MRMs per launcher, reloading from the cargo holds takes 1d8 minutes(1 ton of cargo per 24 missiles).


9) Mini-Missile Launchers(25)---Short range point defense launchers for use against fighters and missiles.
Range: Varies by Missile Type(speed and range x4 in space)
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere, 100 miles in space)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-10
Payload: 320 missiles each launcher; additional mini-missiles can be carried as carg and typically takes 2d6 minutes to reload from the holds(1 ton of cargo per 96 missiles).
(Option)---The Mini-Missile launchers can be modified to fire the “S-Sting” ‘Smart Mini-Missile -----The S-Sting(for ‘Space Stinger’) is an attempt to adapt the guidance systems and accuracy of the ‘Black Talon’ L-SAM to a space-based missile. The missile resembles a rather stubby cylinder with a blunt-nosed optical cluster and protruding verniers(extend after launching), owing to the fact that the vacuum of space negates the need for streamlining the weapon.
Note that the ‘S-Sting’ has only limited effectiveness in an atmosphere....HALF bonuses in a thin atmosphere and weak gravity well like Mars’, and NO bonuses, and HALF range in a thick atmosphere and standard gravity like Earth’s.
Range: 4 miles in atmosphere, 32 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 4 miles in atmosphere/ 400 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6x10 MD to a 15 ft blast radius
Bonuses: +7 to strike


10) Weapons Test Stands(10)---Fort Stratos has ten dedicated modular ‘test stands’ for mounting weaponry. These weapons are regularly swapped out and may be enhanced lasers, plasma projectors, plasma torpedo launchers, improved rail guns, particle pulsars, neutron sprayers, solar concentrators, gravity lances, or any number of theoretical weapons that Paladin Steel has developed or has acquired, and wants to try out. More often than not, these weapons will likely have one or more bugs that still need to be ironed out. Among other things, the weapons in the test stands are usually not tied into the main power grid or targeting systems, so rate of fire and/or accuracy are likely not going to be as high as for standard service weaponry.

Magic Systems:
*Multiplexors(6)----- Fort Stratos mounts several large Multiplexor arrays around its length, both to test large-scale TW systems for warships and spacestations, and to provide extra protection. Typically, the Multiplexors have been used to generate large cloud/fog banks around the massive floating rock to help disguise it from visual sighting.
The typical installation fits the station with four PPE generators(4 PPE Generators and regenerates at 50 PPE per hour(200 PPE per hour total). Each also has an adjacent PPE Battery Bank, that can hold up to 1,000 PPE each(1,200 PPE total per mounting) and a large TW Spell Projection Array.
The current model of Starship Multiplexor can carry up to six separate spells, typically of high-level space spells(See Rifts: Fleets of the Three Galaxies).
At most times, three of the Multiplexors are fitted for space and the remaining three armed with atmospheric spells:
(Atmosphere Configuration)
- Create Fog(10 PPE per activation, duration of 1 hour per activation, 1,500 ft radius)
- Atmosphere Manipulation(110 PPE per activation, duration of 8 hours per activation, 10 mile range)
-Anti-Magic Cloud(140 PPE per activation, duration of 15 minutes per activation, 5 mile range, 300 ft radius area of effect)
- Summon and Control Rain(200 PPE per activation, duration of 8 hours per activation, 80 mile range, 8 mile area of effect)
- Wind Blast (40 PPE per activation, instant duration, 1 mile range, 2d4x10+30 MD per blast, +6 to strike, and aircraft/fliers struck by the blast are -25% to their Piloting rolls.
-Calm Storms (20 PPE per activation, duration of 3 hours per activation, 10 mile range)

(Space Configuration)
-Space Dust(150 PPE per activation, duration of 10 hours per activation, 500 mile range---500,000 mile Kitsune range, and 100 mile radius)
-Solar Flare(250 PPE per activation, duration of 1d6 hours +5 hours per activation, 1,200 mile range---120,000 mile Kitsune range )
-Summon Meteor Shower(150 PPE per activation, duration of 10 minutes per activation, 3 mile range---300 mile Kitsune range)
-Summon Ion Storm--Can generate up to a Level/Magnitude 5 ion storm (150-250 PPE per activation, duration of 1d6x10 minutes per activation, 10 mile range---1,000 mile Kitsune range)
-Gravity Well(550 per activation, duration of 50 minutes per activation, 400 mile range---40,000 mile Kitsune range, 100 mile radius )
-Create Nebula(500 per activation, duration of 10 hours per activation, 20 mile range---2,000 mile Kitsune range, 5 mile diameter)



Auxiliary Craft:(Typical complement)
The aircraft contingent at Fort Stratos often rotates, depending on what’s being field-tested and what units are being trained, but the following is fairly standard at any given time:
Fort Stratos can carry a complement of 80 fighter aircraft, 14 bombers/medium shuttles, and 8 cargo transports/ heavy shuttles.
Commonly deployed aircraft types:
SP-51 Mustang Grav-Prop Aerospace Fighters
SP-82 Gemini Twin-Mustang Grav-Prop Aerospace Fighters
SPD-335 ‘Bolt’ Grav-Prop Aerospace Fighters
SC-47S ‘Star Dakota’ Grav-Prop Light Transport Aerodynes
HST/VTOL-081SF2 ‘Dragonfly’(CG-drive space variant) Light Transport/Attack Shuttles
TAV-SF07 Star Tiger Aerospace Fighters
AAST-4 Condor Medium Transport Shuttles
Luna Moth Light Transport Shuttles

Can dock up to 4 starships up to Light Cruiser class.

wow nicely done

I love the mystery surrounding the test stands, a lot of potential there. Plus, a space tater as a military base is neat.

Some new weapons that Hedoro is working include, Land micro torpedo launcher, sticky micro grenade pistol, inspired by Mass Effect 3's Scorpion, and a force field rifle.
Modifications for the rifle include projection of two dimensional force blades, a projected force field for protection of containment, scattershot, and and expanding force bolt as an alternative for a grenade launcher.

Feel free to comment and help out.

89er wrote:I love the mystery surrounding the test stands, a lot of potential there. Plus, a space tater as a military base is neat.

Some new weapons that Hedoro is working include, Land micro torpedo launcher, sticky micro grenade pistol, inspired by Mass Effect 3's Scorpion, and a force field rifle.
Modifications for the rifle include projection of two dimensional force blades, a projected force field for protection of containment, scattershot, and and expanding force bolt as an alternative for a grenade launcher.

Feel free to comment and help out.

Part of my 'high-low' policy....put out a dozen cheap, low-end 'everyman' designs that you can sell at the corner dealership, and somewhere up the line part of those profits are going into BIG projects like SPACE DREADNOUGHTS.

Oh, and off the top of my head, one of the projects Hedoro has been working on...Nanoseed manufactories....the idea being, you plant a nanotech-packed grenade- or peachpit-sized 'seed' in a pile of debris or other materials, stand back, and minutes to days later you have a brand new tuxedo or a hovertank waiting to be used.
Of course, the bigger the object being 'grown', the more critical it is you plant the seed in an area with easy access to the appropriate materials. Also, the suckers did to generate a lot of heat. Try growing a tank inside a parking garage and the heat generated will likely bake you alive if you're standing nearby.
It's all very experimental; a lot of the trials thus far have resulted in aborted growths, or in defective end-products, like hovertanks with frames the toughness of cardboard, but if the researchers succeed.....

Paladin Steel AT-6D Texan III Prop-Trainer Aircraft
(aka ‘Yale’, ‘Twirly-Nose’, ‘T-X’, ‘Trainer Wheels’, ‘Tweety’. Armed versions are known as ‘Killer Tweets’)
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/t-6-raytoutl.gif
http://www.air-and-space.com/20051022%20Edwards/DSC_1580%20T-6A%2003-0681%20right%20front%20in%20flight%20l.jpg
http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/t6a-texan-ii/images/t-6a_6.jpg

“The ‘Battle of Syracuse’; a vainglorious name for a furball. You’d think the Coalition would drill into its pilots the lesson learned over ten years ago from tangling with the Paladins and their damn little birds: quantity has a quality all its own. Yeah, we took two squadrons of Nightwings into GNE territory and shot down three whole squadrons of their birds and dusted an airfield on their property. Glorious victory, pass the word, and medals for the survivors. Yeah, survivors, ‘cause only about eight guys came out the other end of that meatgrinder. Three squadrons against five, and those squadrons were trainees in subsonic prop-jobs. Air cadets flying off a training field. Half of the casualties we supposedly afflicted were self-induced; wet-behind-the-ears, or whatever those d-bees have, noobs running into the ground or colliding with other. Meantime, the rest of them are blazing away with wing ordnance so it was like flying through a briar patch. Say what you will, those newbies were stupidly brave, or just scared murderous. Missiles and bullets everywhere. We hit the afterburners, the stick-monkeys would throw missile-poo up our tailpipes. Meanwhile, they’d pop countermeasures and hug the ground close enough that our own missiles would lose radar lock and plow into the trees. We slowed down enough to avoid overshooting those little wing-sloggers and tangle with them with our lasers, the ground triple-A would catch us. We knocked down a lot of them, then bombed the airfield, then turned for home. Only the backdoor we used to sneak in to their airspace was closed and we got jumped by their front-line fliers in REAL combat aircraft. They zeked our reserves and took us down to treetop level...hounded us all the way to the Valley. Lost a third of our survivors there, and were lucky we didn’t lose more.
Still, great victory for us. Wooh-whoo. Already the Paladins have rebuilt the airfield, built new radar stations, replaced their lost training aircraft out of those mammoth factories and seemingly endless warehouses of theirs that we can’t touch, and used the ‘martyrs’ to recruit up a dozen new cadet squadrons. And on the strength of their pinwheel fliers downing CS jets, they’ve sold another hundred gross of those cheap little birds; enough that they can afford to buy or build jet trainers for their fledges. Next time we’ll be facing supersonic combat trainers, belike.
Sound seditious? Me? What do I know, I’m just a Hero of the Coalition. Sez right here on this little piece of metal and my new cybernetic leg. Now gimme another beer.”

The PS-AT-6D is a resurrection of the pre-Rifts Beechcraft T-6 Texan II, a light two-man single-engined turboprop aircraft used for basic training by the United States Air Force and in aviation training by the U.S. Navy. Continuing a proud tradition of prop-driven basic trainers, the T-6 was adopted by several global powers for their own training cadres around the turn of the Golden Age, and the design was still in service well into it. The design would see a number of variants, such as the Harvard II for the Canadian military, and an armed variant for light attack/counter insurgency purposes.
Sufficient data on the design survived the Coming of the Rifts, that Paladin Steel was able to resurrect the design when they were looking for a small, inexpensive, and low-tech aircraft for the low-end of its marketing strategy. Paladin Steel updated the design somewhat, with more advanced avionics, a body of light MD alloys with MD composite skin, and a variety of powerplant options, including a more powerful and fuel efficient liquid fuel engine, fuel cell electric, micro-pack nuclear fusion, and Technowizardry Crystal-Battery.
The AT-6D has a digital cockpit and HUD, with pilot-friendly controls and an advanced autopilot system that makes for smooth flying and quick recoveries in event of pilot error; the aircraft’s aerodynamics are fairly forgiving of mistakes, giving the crew, in most cases, ample time to recover and get the aircraft flying straight and level again.
Although generally regarded by veteran Rifts Earth warriors as little better than a jetpack-equipped air patroller, the Texan III still offers novice air warriors a stable and versatile training and weapons platform.
The GNEAS use a few dozen of these aircraft for training purposes, but the majority of PS’s production goes to export sales.

Type: PS-Bchcft-AT-6D Texan III
Class: Basic Trainer/Light Attack Aircraft
Crew: 1+1 passenger
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 250
Reinforced Crew Compartment 80
Engine 90
Wings(2) 60 each
Tail 70
Height: 10 ft 8 in (3.25 m)
Width: 33 ft 5 in (10.19 m
Length: 33 ft 4 in (10.16 m)
Weight: 4,707 lb (2,135 kg) empty, 6,300 lb (2,858 kg) fully tanked up
Cargo: Small space in cockpit for two survival packs and sidearms
Powerplant: Liquid Fuel (w/1,036 mi; 1,667 km (900 nmi) range), Electric, Nuclear Fusion(w/ 10 year energy life), or TW(w/ 5 year energy life)
Speed:(Ground) Can taxi at 5 MPH
(Flying) 364 mph; 585 km/h (316 kn), maximum altitude 31,000 ft (9,449 m)
Bonuses: +10% to Pilot Aircraft skill.
Market Cost: 120,000 credits for liquid fuel, 220,000 credits for electric, 950,000 credits for nuclear fusion, and 1.1 million credits for TW
Systems of Note:
*Radio---100 mile range
*Mini-Radar---20 mile range
*Altimeter, air speed gauge, standard small craft instrumentation
*Landing Lights
*Cabin Environmental Control and Air Filtration
*Ejection Seats
*Dual Controls(both seats have control capabilities)

http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/t6a-texan-ii-jpats/images/10-t-6a_12.jpg

Weapons Systems:
1) Underwing Hardpoints(6, 3 each wing)----The AT-6D has six hardpoints, three under each wing, for carrying ordnance and additional equipment. Each hardpoint pylon can hold ONE of the following:
a) Fuel Tanks/Battery Packs(Liquid fuel and electric versions only)---Up to four can be carried, one each on the two inboard hardpoints. Each Drop Tank can extend the aircraft’s range by 25%
MDC of Pod: 100
Payload: 250 gallons
Cost: 7,000 credits

b) Bombs--Can carry up to a 500 lbs bomb in each hardpoint. Can use standard ‘iron’ bombs or can carry guided ‘smart’ bombs.
*250-lb Bomb----2d4x10 MD to 50 ft blast radius
*500-lb Bomb----4d4x10 MD to 60 ft blast radius
General effective range of a gravity bomb is half a mile(0.8 km) from drop point.
‘Smart’ Bombs are laser or command-guided and hit large stationary targets automatically! Moving vehicles can also be targeted (at +6 to strike).

c) Micro-Missiles(25 shot micro-missile launcher using Paladin Steel micro-missiles/rocket-propelled grenades)
*15mm Micro-Missiles---Vehicle-mounted version of the McMLR-14 MMRifle, in a 25 rd cassette.
Range:
Pattern-1A 5,700 ft
Pattern-1B 6,000 ft
Pattern-1C 6,000 ft
Pattern-1D 7,000 ft
Pattern-1E 7,500 ft
Damage/Bonuses:
Pattern-1A---1d4 MD to 2 ft blast radius
Pattern-1B---1d6 MD to 5 ft blast radius
Pattern-1C---4d6 MD to 4 ft blast radius, or 1d4 MD to a 10 ft blast radius in fragmentation mode
Pattern-1D----6d6 MD to a 5 ft blast radius, or 2d6 MDC out to a 18 ft blast radius in fragmentation mode
Pattern-1E---1d4x10 MD to 3 ft blast radius
Bonuses:
Pattern-1A (None) Spin-Stabilized
Pattern-1B (None) Gyro-Compass Chip
Pattern-1C (+1 to strike, in addition to W.P. Heavy bonuses. The Pattern-1C can also be set to be a ‘beam rider’, following a laser illuminator ‘painted’ on the target for an extra +2 to strike. However, this requires expenditure of an extra attack per melee on the part of the gunner to keep the laser illuminator on target) Gyro-Compass Chip, Laser-Sensor Microchip, Radar Trigger Chip.
Pattern-1D (+2 to strike, in addition to W.P. Heavy bonuses. Like the Pattern-1C, the Pattern-1D can ‘beam-ride’...again, this requires the gunner to maintain target-lock at the cost of an additional APM, but the -1D is better able to remain on target if the lock is broken. Furthermore, the missile can be keyed to lock on to the laser illuminator of other gunners...done with a predetermined key-chip...allowing squadmates to ‘paint’ targets for fellow soldiers with micro-missile launchers). Gyro-Compass Chip, Laser-Sensor Microchip, Radar Trigger Chip, Image Sensing Chip.
Pattern-1E(+4 to strike, in addition to W.P. Heavy bonuses, Same ‘beamrider’ capability as with Pattern-1D. ) Gyro-Compass Chip, Laser-Sensor Microchip, Radar Trigger Chip, Image Sensing Chip, Infrared Sensing Chip.
Cost:
Pattern-1A 25 credits per McM
Pattern-1B 32 credits per McM
Pattern-1C 60 credits per McM
Pattern-1D 95 credits per McM
Pattern-1E 220 credits per McM

*20mm Micro-Missiles---Adopted from the 20mm ‘Fire Orchid’ ML-SAM launcher system, in a 20-round cassette;
Range: 8,000 ft for all types
Damage: (Pattern-2a) 4d4 MD to 2 ft blast radius
(Pattern-2b)6d6 MD to a 5 ft blast radius, or 2d6 MDC out to a 18 ft blast radius in fragmentation mode
(Pattern-2c)(Incendiary)2d4 MD to 5 ft blast radius, does an additional 1d4 burn damage for 2d4 melees
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1, 3, or 9
Payload: 9-shot clip
Bonuses:(All Patterns)(+3 to strike airborne targets, +1 to strike ground targets) Gyro-Compass Chip, Laser-Sensor Microchip, Radar Trigger Chip, Image Sensing Chip, Infrared Sensing Chip.
Special Features:
*Sensor Package---The sensor package includes an IR/Thermal sight, laser rangefinder(2 mile range) and directional mini-radar(2 mile range) with audio-alarm to notify the gunner of target-lock.
Cost: 28,000 credits (3,000 for the launcher assembly, 25,000 for the sighting package)
(Pattern-2a) 90 credits each
(Pattern-2b)130 credits each
(Pattern-2c)150 credits each

d)Mini-Missiles---19-shot missile pod

e) Short Range Missiles---2 per hardpoint

f) LAAMs---Based on the PS/FC ‘Black Talon’ Light SAM---PS ’s ‘brilliant’ mini-missile.
Range: 3 miles
Damage: 3d4x10 MD to 40 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1,2,3, or 4(all)
Payload: 4 per hardpoint
Bonus: +5 to strike, and gets TWO attempts to strike the target(agile enough to loop back on a target and try again)
Cost: 60,000 credits per launcher, 10,000 credits per missile

g)Medium Range Missiles---1 per hardpoint

h) Light Machine Gun Pod
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 2d6 MD per burst per single gun
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 100 bursts per gun
Cost: 7,000 credits

i) Heavy Machine Gun Pod---.50 caliber Gunpod---Combines a fifty-caliber heavy machine gun and ramjet ammunition with a four-shot mini-missile launcher
Range:(Machine Gun) 19,000 ft
(Mini-Missiles) Varies by Missile Type
Damage:(Machine Gun)(SDC rd) 7d6 SDC per single rd, 2d6x10+20 SDC per 40 rd burst
(Ramjet rd) 1d4 MD per single rd, 5d6 MD per 40 rd burst
(Mini-Missiles)Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire:(Machine Gun) ECHH
(Mini-Missiles) Volleys of 1,2,3, or 4(all)
Payload:(Machine Gun)2,000 rds(50 bursts)
(Mini-Missiles) 4
Cost: 60,000 credits

j) Light Rail Gun Pod---A copy of the Coalition’s own C-200 ‘Dead Man’ rail gun.
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 1d4 MD single rd, 4d6 MD per 20 rd burst
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 5,000 rd drum
Cost: 80,000 credits

k) Pulse Laser Pod---PS XL-16-PM Pulse Laser
Range: 4000 feet
Damage: 4d6+2 per single shot, 2d4x10 for a triple pulse.
Rate of Fire: ECHH, Standard
Payload: 180 shot battery. Unlimited if nuclear/TW powered
Cost: 60,000 cr

l) PS PTT-M20B Missile Rifle/Pod---Rather than carry a standard aviation-style missile pod, this box-style ‘missile rifle’ can be carried instead. An extremely popular CS knockoff, especially among pilots who plan on going up against flights of SAMAS, or other aircraft. The range and additional laser targeting system for the mini-missiles makes it a more effective and attractive weapon for use against hard to hit power armors or aircraft, but it is still popular against armor. Otherwise it is the same, right down to the laser and the pistol handgrips, and has the advantage of being able to be detached from the Yellowjacket’s undercarriage and being used by power armor, cyborgs, and exceptionally strong beings.
Weight: 110 lbs fully loaded. 80 lbs empty
MDC: 100
Range: (Mini-Missiles) Varies by Missile Type,
(Laser)2000 feet
Damage: (Mini-Missiles) Varies by Missile Type
(Laser) 2d6 MDC per shot
Rate of Fire: (Mini-Missiles)Volleys of 1, 2, or 4 for the missiles,
(Laser) Single shots (EGCHH) with laser.
Payload: (Mini-Missiles)20 missiles total (10 per tube),
(Laser) Effectively unlimited shots when attached to a vehicle
Bonuses: +1 to strike from laser targeting
Cost: 70,000 Cr

m) Light Autocannon---The 20mm Taskin Rifle, mounted in a vehicle pod
Range: 6,000 ft
Damage:(20mm) 1d4 MD single shot
4d6 MD per 5 rd burst
1d4x10+4 MD per 10 rd burst
(Super-HEX) 4d4 MD single shot
1d6x10 MD per 5 rd burst
2d6x10 MD per 10 rd burst
(Wood Rounds) 6d6 SDC single shot (1d4x10 HP to vampires)
2d4x10 SDC MD per 5 rd burst (2d4x10 HP to vampires)
6d6 MD per 10 rd burst (3d6x10 HP to vampires)
(Crowd Control rds) humans and human-sized D-Bees must roll a D20 to maintain their footing (must equal or surpass the attacker's roll to strike...Full rules in TNW p.174)
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 500 rd magazine
Cost: 25,000 credits

n)Mine/Bomblet Dispenser---ONE can be carried per wing
Light Weapons Dispenser(L-SAW)--This is essentially an oversized bomblet dispenser that can be used to bomb targets directly, ‘seed’ areas with minelets, or can launched to act as a standoff ‘glide bomb’.
Range: SAW has an effective range of 10 miles in atmosphere Submunitions can be launched up to 300 ft out to either side of the SAW’s flight path.
Damage: (AP Grenade) 4d6 MD to 8 ft area
(Chemical Grenade) Varies by chemical type and atmospheric conditions. A chemical grenade will generally generate a cloud of aerosol 15 ft in radius.
(HE Shell) 5d6 MD to 20 ft area
(Fragmentation Mine) 4d6 MD to 12 ft area
(Incendiary Bomb) Does 4d6 MD to 40 ft area, does an additional 2d6 MD for 1d6 melees, and 1d6 MD per melee for an additional 2d4 melees
(Angel Hair)---Does NO damage, but against conventional power generators and uncovered power lines and distribution systems, it can short out power grids, clog generator air intakes(80% effectiveness against industrial generators and internal combustion engines), and be a general nuisance to clean up.
Rate of Fire: A SAW can volley its submunitions in any combination
Payload:(Typical loadouts)
200 AP/Chemical grenades
OR
50 HE/anti-vehicle grenades
OR
50 Fragmentation Mines
OR
25 Incendiary Bombs
OR
250 spools of wire, each spool holding up to 4,000 ft of aluminum-coated

o) Sprayer Pod---Similar to the Drop Tank, but this liquid storage pod deploys two diffuser fins from the back to spray chemicals from the back. This is typically used to control agricultural pests(a common enough secondary role for the aircraft in rural communities), crowd control, firefighting, or other vermin management roles.
Range: Depending on wind and altitude, the aircraft can spray a 100 foot wide swath at maximum dispersal.
Damage: Varies by chemical type. If using water, typically does 4d6 HP to vampires(‘Bless the tank, Holy Father!”).
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 100 gallons
Note: Only one can be carried under each wing, to the exception of any other underwing ordnance.
Cost: 10,000 credits

p) Napalm/Incendi-Gel Tank---Used for vermin control and ground clearance.
Range: Depending on wind and altitude, the aircraft can spray a 60 foot wide, 1,000 ft long swath at maximum dispersal
Damage: Does 2d6 MD, 2d6 MD per melee for 1d6 minutes, plus combustible materials have an 90% chance of catching fire.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 100 gallons
Cost: 12,000 credits. A full tank-up of Incendi-Gel costs 18,000 credits.

q)ECM Module---electronic jamming system that gives radar-guided weaponry a -4 to strike the drone. Or it can be used offensively, to foil ALL radar-guided weaponry in a 15 mile radius(-2 to strike). Additional pods DO NOT add cumulative bonuses, but do provide system redundancy.
Cost: 200,000 credits

r) Jammer-----A mini-radio jammer, that can pump out enough multi-wavelength white noise to jam civilian band communications with 90% effectiveness, and military comms with 70% effectiveness, over a 20 mile radius. Additional pods DO NOT add cumulative bonuses, but do provide system redundancy.
Cost: 100,000 credits

s) Cargo Pod---Holds up to 500 lbs of cargo
Cost: 1,000 credits

t) Flare/Chaff Launcher
Range: Close Defense
Damage: None; similar to Triax-style chaff
01-50 Enemy Missile or volley detonates in chaff and threat is neutralized
51-75 Missile/Volley diverts and may pursue/lock on to other targets
76-00 No Effect! Missile(s) still on target!
Will also temporarily blind and impede flying monsters who fly into it.
Reduce APMs/combat bonuses/ speed by half for 1d4 melees
Payload: 18 per launcher
Cost: 4,000 credits per launcher; additional flare/chaff bundles cost 200 credits each


Options:
*Recovery Parachute---This deploys in emergency circumstances to lower the main fuselage to the ground safely. Cost: 15,000 credits

*Cockpit Pod---A reinforced crash-cage cockpit pod(110 MDC) that can be ejected from the rest of the aircraft and lowered to the ground on its own chute. Reduces crash damage to occupants by HALF. The pod also floats.
Cost: 75,000 credits

*Underfuselage Sensor Turret---A remote-control trainable sensor ball-turret can be mounted on the underside of the aircraft
Telescopic (2 mile acuity, 4-10x50 magnification)
IR/UV(2,000 ft)
Thermo-Imaging (3,000 ft)
Audio-Video-Survellance System w 48 hour recording capability
Laser Illuminator---’Paints’ targets for laser-guided weaponry. Range of 4 miles and gives a +1 to strike for L-G ordnance.
Cost: 20,000 credits


*Flare/Chaff Dispensers(1-2)---Built into the tail
Range: Close Defense
Damage: None; similar to Triax-style chaff
01-50 Enemy Missile or volley detonates in chaff and threat is neutralized
51-75 Missile/Volley diverts and may pursue/lock on to other targets
76-00 No Effect! Missile(s) still on target!
Will also temporarily blind and impede flying monsters who fly into it.
Reduce APMs/combat bonuses/ speed by half for 1d4 melees
Payload: 12 per launcher
Cost: 3,000 credits per launcher; additional flare/chaff bundles cost 200 credits each


*Dive Brakes---Adds two positionable dive brakes to the tail, and slatted wing fences to the wings, turning the aircraft into a dive-bomber. A successful dive-bombing attack requires a Piloting roll at -10%, but the dropped ordnance is +2 to strike, and gets a +2d4 MD for the extra speed assist in penetration. Cost: 50,000 credits.

Variants:
*JAT-6D ---Drone(remote control or autopilot) version, with a smooth plate where the cockpit canopy normally is. Typically used as a target drone, but also occasionally used as a recon drone, carrying surveillance and survey instruments on its underwing hardpoints.

*JAT-6E ---Combat drone, fully programmed for autonomous combat.
5 attacks per melee, +1 initiative, +4 dodge, +2 to strike
When being remotely piloted, use the pilot’s piloting bonuses, +1 to strike and +2 to dodge.

Oh, now I see, and if you need help with the Patriot, let me know.

Hoyt: you have my support as well, now pardon me. I have a hot date with a former mare in the moon.

Code Vermilion!!! Hoyt is out of his box, call for back up.

The Patriot's emerging somewhat differently from the groundwork I've already laid for the 'Hekky'(already roughed out a sketch of what the Hekky looks like...sort of a 'Mighty Joe Young' version of the Spartoi drone. BIG arms. Knuckle-dragger.

Well, I'm trying to get as much done as I can before I go on vacation next week (Aug. 16-22nd). Figures I'll be working the next three days straight, but that will help pay for the bus fare. Plus finally buy a digital camera(be nice if I could shoot my own backgrounds for my pictures).

taalismn wrote:Paladin Steel AT-6D Texan III Prop-Trainer Aircraft
(aka ‘Yale’, ‘Twirly-Nose’, ‘T-X’, ‘Trainer Wheels’, ‘Tweety’. Armed versions are known as ‘Killer Tweets’)
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/t-6-raytoutl.gif
http://www.air-and-space.com/20051022%20Edwards/DSC_1580%20T-6A%2003-0681%20right%20front%20in%20flight%20l.jpg
http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/t6a-texan-ii/images/t-6a_6.jpg

http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/t6a-texan-ii-jpats/images/10-t-6a_12.jpg

love what you did here man!!!

Additional Backpack Weapons for the ‘Scamper’ Micro-Power Armor
(Inspired by discussion with Anapuma and the ‘GlitterRat’ concept)

“Attacking the American Northeast just isn’t as fun anymore now that they have all those tiny vermin running around carrying heavy explosives and happily using them on us....”
---Grash g’Nolt, Horune Pirate

These are additional heavy weapons that can be carried by the ‘Scamper’ MicroPower Armor.

*52mm Mortar Pack---This mounts a single 52mm short-barrel mortar on the back of the mini-PA. The weapon features a six-round revolver-style breech-loading mechanism(though it can be muzzle-loaded as well in a pinch). The mortar features a telescoping rod shock absorber that acts as both baseplate and recoil absorber. Carried on the Scamper’s back, when deployed for action the McPA leans back, resting the weapon’s baseplate on the ground, and the McPA’s own two legs serving as the mortar’s bipod. In a pinch, the smoothbore weapon can be braced against a wall or rock, and the weapon used as a direct-fire weapon firing over the McPA’s shoulder, Boom-Gun style. Though magazine capacity is limited, the weapon gives the tiny soldier a serious weapon to use against BigFolk targets. Mortar carriers are often referred to as ‘PigRats’ and ‘Mini-Boomers’.
Weight: +11 lbs
MDC: 25
Range: (52mm rounds) 2,200 ft
(Modified 50mm Rounds) 800 ft
Damage: (PSX-II High Explosive) 2d4x10 MD to 20 ft blast radius. Cost per shell: 800 credits
(Fragmentation) 6d6 MD to 50 ft blast radius. Cost per shell: 600 credits
(Incendiary) 4d6 MD to 30 ft blast radius, does an additional 1d4 MD for 1d6 melees, plus 80% chance of setting combustible materials aflame. Cost per shell: 700 credits
(Armor-Piercing Self-Forging)----This is a new experimental special shell that contains a micro-sensor and dual-charge system. The disc-shaped warhead is ‘frisbeed’ to high altitude(800 ft), then scans for target-profiles with its micro-sensor. When it spots a likely target profile(thermal or optical outline)(the limited size and complexity of the micro-sensor severely limits its targeting ability to a total of 6 targets...fortunately, the profile-database can be changed easily enough by inserting a new chip into the fusing assembly before loading), the warhead fires downwards, the material of the ‘discus’ deforming into a narrow, pointed, high-penetration needle well-suited for penetrating armor. Does 3d6x10 MD; no blast radius.
Note: This munition does NOT suffer from the indirect fire penalty; roll to strike as normal, but without bonuses. PS is working on a micro-guidance system that would allow these munitions to home in on laser-’painted’ targets, as via a forward observer....as well as better target discrimination(the current model has a tendency to be distracted by flaming wrecks in the vicinity of the ‘live’ target. Cost per shell: 4,000 credits
(Plasma) 2d6x10 MD to 10 ft blast radius. Cost per shell: 3,000 credits
(Smoke/Chemical) Varies by chemical type. Typically covers a 20 ft area. Basic smoke shells cost 100 credits apiece
(Illumination) Fires a high altitude illumination flare that burns brightly for 1d4 minutes. The flare also has a 40% chance of decoying/confusing heat-seeking sensors/weapons systems. Cost per shell: 500 credits
(Sensor Decoys) The mortar can also fire special lightweight thermal-emission decoys for confusing sensors into thinking there are ground troops where there are none....To further the confusion, the spheroid decoy will randomly extend springloaded ‘legs’ that move the decoy about in 5-10 ft leaps, giving the impression of moving troops. Internal mini-batteries last for 30 minutes. A small acid-capsule or self-destruct anti-tampering charge may also be attached to prevent the decoy from falling into enemy hands. Cost per shell: 700 credits
Noisemaker decoys are similar, but they emit random amplified ‘soldier noises’...footfalls, clinking of weapons, gunshots, muffled voices, etc., but are otherwise similar to the thermal-decoys. Cost per shell: 400 credits

TW Warheads
One of Paladin Steel West’s refinements to TW armaments was the use of specially-treated cracked crystal quartz and quartzite in expendable TW munitions. The ability of to use lower-quality flawed crystalline materials meant that self-destructing ‘one-shot’ TW weapons could be produced much more cheaply, and thus in bulk, while reserving higher-quality materials for superior TW creations.

(TW Sandstorm)-----Creates a sudden sandstorm that lasts 5 minutes, covering a 100 ft area. People trapped inside it will find visibility cut down to 3 ft, hearing is reduced by HALF, speed by 75%, lose initiative, 2 APM, and -5 strike, parry, and dodge. The scouring sand does 1d4 SDC per melee. Even robot vehicles will find their sensors, including radar, bolloxed by the flying grit. Cost per shell: 4,000 credits
(TW Chasm)---Opens up a chasm 160 ft long, by 80 ft wide, by 80 ft deep, that remains open for up to 40 minutes. Objects falling in take 2d6 SDC per every 20 ft of depth. At the end of the spell, the chasm belches everything up to the surface as if they’d never fallen(in other words, they don’t get crushed by the closing fissure). CANNOT be used against buildings. Cost per shell: 7,000 credits
(TW Lava Pool)----Creates a pool or lane of lava 60 ft long. 10 ft wide, 10 ft deep. Objects caught in this pool take 2d6x10 MD per melee. Cost per shell: 9,000 credits
(TW Air Burst)---Sets loose a Whirlwind that does 2d6+2 MD to everything caught up in its 20 ft wide funnel. The Whirlwind tracks randomly about a 300 ft area for 2d4 melees before dissipating. Cost per shell: 8,000 credits
(TW Storm Shell)---Essentially a longer-ranged version of the TW anti-vampire Stormflare. Effects are the same. Cost per shell: 3,000 credits
(TW Sun Bomb)---A more powerful version of the Globe of Daylight Flare, only this version is powerful enough to inflict flashburns on vampires! Does 6d6 HP per melee for 3d6 melees to a 50 ft radius. Cost per shell: 2,000 credits

Adapted 50mm Rounds----The Mini-Mo can also fire modified 50mm ‘hand howitzer’ rounds fitted with barrel bands to increase their caliber and allow them to be used in the slightly larger bore. These round are typically used in the direct fire mode.

(50mm RAP)1d6x10 +40 MD to 6 ft blast radius, plus 1d4x10 SDC to anyone inside the armor(or 6d6 SDC to anyone within 10 ft of the other side of the wall). HALF that if used against composite ‘meshed’ armors designed to flex, rather than spald(most power armors are constructed to have a certain amount of ‘warp’ to their structure, but cheaper armors, like Chipwell and early Northern Gun designs, lack this protection).
More advanced modern armors, such as those used by the Coalition, Triax, and other very high tech nations(the Kittani, for instance), for their EBA, power armors, robots, some vehicles, and special purpose fortifications(such as high echelon command bunkers) are designed NOT to spald, due to multiple composite layers of megadamage fabric and netting.....for these armors, spalding/bleed-through damage may be reduced to 1/4, or may not apply at all(GMs, use your discretion). Normal blast damage still applies, though, as the outer layers of armor are blown off/vaporized.

Restraint Caster(AKA "Booger") This "safe" munition blasts out an expanding glop of adhesive resin and plastic fibers that entangle and immobilize targets in an instant straitjacket. The tough polymer is non-allergenic and fire-resistant.
The "Booger" suffers from atrocious range; it can only reach 150 ft before flopping to the ground. Covers an area of 4 ft, and is
air permeable, so even if a perp is covered head to foot they can still breath.
Damage: 1d4 SDC bruising damage on impact, restrains with a P.S. of 30(characters without a robotic or supernatural PS of 30 or greater
are stuck until released. Even with r/s PS 30, takes 1d4 melees to bust out/be cut out).
Note: Police carry solvents that dissolve the "Booger" within 1d4 melees.
(Black Market cost for the solvent is 500 credits per 3-use tube)

(50mm Riot Round)Riot Rd: This munition is an expanding ball of sponge plastic, swelling up to roughly the size of a basketball. The Riot Round has better range than the Restraint Rd, and is designed to deliver a bruising kinetic
slap to resisting perps.
Range: 300 ft
Damage: 4d6 SDC plus 80% chance of knockdown(60% chance of stunning for 1d4 melees, -10 to initiative, strike/parry/dodge/roll, and half apms. Reduce percentiles for stun and penalties by half if wearing MDC armor)

Smoke Rd: Smoke in a 20 ft area
Foam Rd: Designed for firefighting. Covers a 10 ft area in fire-retardant foam.
High Explosive Rd: 6d6 MD to 10 ft area

Rate of Fire: Single shot. Handloaded; a single operator(the borg himself) can typically get off one shot a melee, while a well-trained/coordinated fire team(2 members with at least 3rd level W.P. Heavy Weapons or a single person with 5th level W.P. Heavy Weapons), can load and fire 2 shells per melee.

Bonuses/Penalties:(Optional)(Rifts South America 2 has no rules for the Arkhon’s Mortar Packs’ inaccuracy, but for diehard artillery buffs, figure on 50% chance of hitting moving targets, 75% chance of hitting stationary targets within 2,200 ft range, or 50% chance out beyond that. 50% of shells will fall within a ‘footprint’ or ‘box’ 131 ft long by 70 ft wide.
Payload: 6 shot revolver magazine.
Extra rounds can be quickly loaded by a companion carrying a ‘speedloader’ cassette, or new rounds can handloaded, dropped down the muzzle like conventional mortar rounds(takes 2 APMs per shot this way).
Cost: 50,000 credits

*Rifle Grenade Launch Racks----This mounts a backpack rig with launch mounts for 2-3 regular Rilfe-Launched Grenades:
Range: Typically 1,800 ft
Damage:
(Riot)---Combination flash-bang and rubber pellet charge---Victims are -10 to strike, parry, and dodge, -1 to initiative, and lose 1 APM for 1d4 melees. Rubber pellets do 1d4 SDC damage, but have a 60% chance of knockdown for any human-sized, or smaller, beings, caught in a 10 ft blast radius.....lose initiative and 1 APM for that melee(cost: 80 credits)
(Fragmentation-SDC) 2d4x10 SDC to 20 ft blast radius(cost: 100 credits)
(Fragmentation-MD) 3d6 MD to 25 ft blast radius(cost: 280 credits)
(High Explosive) 6d6 MD to 10 ft blast radius(cost: 360 credits)
(Anti-Armor HEAT) Very heavy projectile(range drops to 120 ft) Does 2d4x10 MD to a 1 ft diameter area(shaped charge)(cost: 800 credits)
(Plasma/Micro-Fusion) 1d6x10 MD to 8 ft blast radius (cost: 800 credits)
(Incendiary) 2d6 MD flash damage to 12 ft blast radius, plus does 1d4 MD per melee for 2d4 melees(cost: 350 credits)
(Acid)---4d6 MD to a 5 ft radius, then diminishes in strength by 1d6 each melee(lasts about 4 melees)(cost: credits)
(Chemical) Effects vary, but contains enough chemical agent to cover a 15 ft radius
(Illumination) Can loft to an altitude of 600 ft, and illuminate a 500 ft radius for 4d4 melees. (cost: 15 credits)
Note: Additional grenade types, including TW munitions, are constantly in development.

Rate of Fire: Single shot. A trained user can load and fire a RLG once per melee
Payload: One per mounting point
Cost: 4,000 credits for a 2-rack, 6,000 credits for a 3-shot rack

More firepower for the smallkin, I love it.

89er wrote:More firepower for the smallkin, I love it.

It makes invading GNE territories a costly undertaking, unless you plan to level EVERYTHING and burn the place down to the bedrock(and if we have enough tunnel-borers, you can count on guerilla warfare even then.

taalismn wrote:Well, I'm trying to get as much done as I can before I go on vacation next week (Aug. 16-22nd). Figures I'll be working the next three days straight, but that will help pay for the bus fare. Plus finally buy a digital camera (be nice if I could shoot my own backgrounds for my pictures).

Enjoy your trip.

...but that will help pay for the bus fare.. enjoy your ride.

By the way did you get better 'Bird droppings' seating this time? "First class or Second." seating. Hope not Cargo.

Is this one of your mini subs?

From model show pictures.

abtex wrote:Is this one of your mini subs?

heavily modified Stinger minisub from seaQuest DSV. original was built by Lucas Wolenczek, has a mobile tail to allow for laminar flow over the surface, allowing high speeds of 120+ knots..

Thanks, glitterboy2098 for the info.
Wish it was not a conversion of a TV show, Palladium rules have against doing that.

abtex wrote:Is this one of your mini subs?

From model show pictures.

I'd love to do it, and the biometric fish design makes perfect sense, but I believe the model is adapted from a 'SeaQuest DSV" design.

taalismn, go up two postings and read glitterboy2098 info.

abtex wrote:taalismn, go up two postings and read glitterboy2098 info.

Oops...did a quick reply late at night, after rushing around getting ready to make my trip( so I can work late at night, commute an hour, get home at 10 PM, and get up at 6 AM ready and alert to get a taxi and then catch a bus).
Thanks for the info, though.
Yep, in the olden days when conversions were rife, I'd actually started on something like that.
That barrier, however, doesn't preclude me from doing OTHER bio-mimic craft, like Whale-Subs and Tuna-Racers(sub with the hull based on the body form and swimming style of a tuna).

Well, have to see if Wood Hole's aquarium really is closed for good this year....I've been recieving conflicting reports.

Have a good trip.
What kind of back grounds pictures are you going to take at the beach? Maybe.
Maybe a picture of your alien that your dad made into at woodwork of some kind.

He most likely playing in the sand. Or doing something else.

Hey Taalismn, I can't remember but is there a Paladin Steel History/Timeline posted somewhere in this thread or online?